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Showing posts from October, 2015

Carry on arranging

As Beethoven's music is so popular I have decided to tackle the rest of the symphonies.

Up to now I have generally avoided slower tempo pieces or movements because they don't responsd so well to a predominatly percussion treatment. But with the arrival of the Gamelan orchestra in my musical palette it is easier to handle slower parts. I also use a cool pad to provide an extended sustain to both steel drum and marimba parts where necessary.

However the Chroral movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony has provided the additional challenge of human voices. There are many vox and chorus pads and I have selected male and female ones from my collection of Mega Mood presets. It's not recorded yet so there is still time for final tweaks but the simmpler arrangment, the absence of the lyrics and the absence of soloists makes the musical form more evident.

Nearly 15 years practice with this set of instruments and a variety of source MIDI material has meant that I can get to a firs…