Comments on: Exercises for Mastering Notation http://jonathanfeist.berkleemusicblogs.com/2009/07/12/exercises-for-mastering-notation/ Fri, 05 Feb 2010 21:10:36 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: Debra http://jonathanfeist.berkleemusicblogs.com/2009/07/12/exercises-for-mastering-notation/comment-page-1/#comment-347 Debra Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:18:57 +0000 http://jonathanfeist.berkleemusicblogs.com/2009/07/12/exercises-for-mastering-notation/#comment-347 Jonathan, I really enjoyed your article and plan to try out some of these techniques. I do find that artistic production of any kind can yield amazing results when there is a constraint of some sort either placed on the time frame or the process. Thanks a lot. Cheers, Debra Jonathan, I really enjoyed your article and plan to try out some of these techniques. I do find that artistic production of any kind can yield amazing results when there is a constraint of some sort either placed on the time frame or the process.
Thanks a lot.
Cheers,
Debra

]]> By: Jonathan Feist http://jonathanfeist.berkleemusicblogs.com/2009/07/12/exercises-for-mastering-notation/comment-page-1/#comment-316 Jonathan Feist Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:23:21 +0000 http://jonathanfeist.berkleemusicblogs.com/2009/07/12/exercises-for-mastering-notation/#comment-316 Hi Fritz, It reminds me of the famous words from Chuang Tzu, Taoist philosopher: "The fish trap exists because of the fish. Once you've gotten the fish you can forget the trap. The rabbit snare exists because of the rabbit. Once you've gotten the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words exist because of meaning. Once you've gotten the meaning, you can forget the words. Where can I find a man who has forgotten words so I can talk with him?" Hi Fritz,
It reminds me of the famous words from Chuang Tzu, Taoist philosopher:

“The fish trap exists because of the fish. Once you’ve gotten the fish you can forget the trap. The rabbit snare exists because of the rabbit. Once you’ve gotten the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words exist because of meaning. Once you’ve gotten the meaning, you can forget the words. Where can I find a man who has forgotten words so I can talk with him?”

]]> By: Fritz Feger http://jonathanfeist.berkleemusicblogs.com/2009/07/12/exercises-for-mastering-notation/comment-page-1/#comment-313 Fritz Feger Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:19:03 +0000 http://jonathanfeist.berkleemusicblogs.com/2009/07/12/exercises-for-mastering-notation/#comment-313 Notation is not music, but I think it is more than writing ABOUT music. It is a visualisation of music for those who can read. That's why, in the first place, it can serve the function of storing and communicating music. Not a big difference, but, to my lights, an significant difference. Apart from preparing sheet music for players on the flight, so to speak, this is the main reason for me to compose in a notation software rather than, say, a piano roll or matrix editor. Notation is not music, but I think it is more than writing ABOUT music. It is a visualisation of music for those who can read. That’s why, in the first place, it can serve the function of storing and communicating music. Not a big difference, but, to my lights, an significant difference. Apart from preparing sheet music for players on the flight, so to speak, this is the main reason for me to compose in a notation software rather than, say, a piano roll or matrix editor.

]]> By: Notation isn’t music: excercises for mastering notation http://jonathanfeist.berkleemusicblogs.com/2009/07/12/exercises-for-mastering-notation/comment-page-1/#comment-312 Notation isn’t music: excercises for mastering notation Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:32:23 +0000 http://jonathanfeist.berkleemusicblogs.com/2009/07/12/exercises-for-mastering-notation/#comment-312 [...] course in Finale (Berklee also offer courses in Sibelius, which I have posted about before), and his latest blog post makes the excellent point that music notation is not music: It’s a way of writing about music. [...] [...] course in Finale (Berklee also offer courses in Sibelius, which I have posted about before), and his latest blog post makes the excellent point that music notation is not music: It’s a way of writing about music. [...]

]]> By: Jonathan Feist http://jonathanfeist.berkleemusicblogs.com/2009/07/12/exercises-for-mastering-notation/comment-page-1/#comment-311 Jonathan Feist Tue, 14 Jul 2009 05:36:14 +0000 http://jonathanfeist.berkleemusicblogs.com/2009/07/12/exercises-for-mastering-notation/#comment-311 Great! A variation I do on the notation exercise (harder to explain!) is to do it for a group of instruments, like a string quartet, or melody, comping, and bass line, rather than just one staff. It's a way to think contrapuntally/polyphonically, jumping from one staff to the next, like spreading out composite rhythms. (I don't fill in rests.) Finale is good for creating specialized manuscript paper like this. If you use it, use the Staff tool (Blank staff style) to hide the default whole rest (and barlines, if you like). You could also have some staves blank and some more thoughtfully composed, and practice scribbling during the course of actual songwriting/composition. Many variations can bring this closer to actual writing, or keeping it more of a pure exercise. I hope it's useful to you. Great! A variation I do on the notation exercise (harder to explain!) is to do it for a group of instruments, like a string quartet, or melody, comping, and bass line, rather than just one staff. It’s a way to think contrapuntally/polyphonically, jumping from one staff to the next, like spreading out composite rhythms. (I don’t fill in rests.) Finale is good for creating specialized manuscript paper like this. If you use it, use the Staff tool (Blank staff style) to hide the default whole rest (and barlines, if you like). You could also have some staves blank and some more thoughtfully composed, and practice scribbling during the course of actual songwriting/composition. Many variations can bring this closer to actual writing, or keeping it more of a pure exercise. I hope it’s useful to you.

]]> By: Pam Mark Hall http://jonathanfeist.berkleemusicblogs.com/2009/07/12/exercises-for-mastering-notation/comment-page-1/#comment-310 Pam Mark Hall Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:53:56 +0000 http://jonathanfeist.berkleemusicblogs.com/2009/07/12/exercises-for-mastering-notation/#comment-310 Thank, Jonathan. These are terrific exercises. It's taking a couple of steps back, not being so darn serious about songwriting. Have some fun with it! Hey, I remember that! Like those first songs I wrote when I was 9. I actually have some manuscript paper I bought many years ago, leftover from when I was transcribing songs for my first album. I'm going to to pull it out and have a go at it. Thank, Jonathan. These are terrific exercises. It’s taking a couple of steps back, not being so darn serious about songwriting. Have some fun with it! Hey, I remember that! Like those first songs I wrote when I was 9. I actually have some manuscript paper I bought many years ago, leftover from when I was transcribing songs for my first album. I’m going to to pull it out and have a go at it.

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