Music Writing: Ave Maria for Christmas

Every year for the longest time, I have written (aka arranged) at least one piece of Christmas music.  This started out in church, where my family often sings or plays instruments.  We couldn’t find solos or duets for songs we wanted with our weird amalgamation of instruments and voices.  So I started arranging the music, and a personal Christmas tradition was born.  This year, I have chosen two: I want to write my own melody for an Ave Maria, and I want to arrange Riu Chiu for a choir.  Whether or not anyone actually sings or plays this remains to be seen, but I don’t care.  I am writing them.  First up… Ave Maria.  I am going to try to write my own melody to this beautiful and poetic prayer.

I don’t think mine will become a timeless classic like Schubert… but you never know :)

I use the freeware program called MuseScore to write my music at the moment.  In the “old days” I would use handmade staff paper, a pencil with a fresh eraser, and my mother’s piano.  Ah, how times have changed.
Before I wrote the music, I had to decide whether to have the song in English or Latin.  I put the lyrics below.  After a lot of flip flopping I decided to stick to traditional Latin.  I think it sounds more lyrical.

Now for the fun stuff: creating the titles! When you open a new project in MuseScore, this is the first thing that pops up, so it is easy to do. I just love looking at the title, and seeing my name somewhere underneath it is just another perk.

Next, I put together the musical instruments on the staves.  The instruments in question are 6 voices to cover a complete choir.  I intend to make a solo version and a piano version, but this is what I want to start with.  Now, the voice sounds on MuseScore do leave something to be desired, so while I am working on the song the voices will be exchanged for woodwind instruments.

I have been humming a tune for about a week that I decided was perfect for this carol.  So I put that down before I could forget it.  It sounded amazing to me.  And, if I remind myself to keep the melody simple, this little diddy should harmonize well.  MuseScore allows me to type the notes in using alphabet keys, as well as just use the mouse and literally place the notes where I want them.  And I can play back whenever necessary to keep the harmony in place.  However, I will say that computer instruments really do lack the emotion and personality of a live instrument.  That is why the sample below has all the dynamics below.  I wanted to hear the main melody of the alto (third bar line) above everything else.  Real singers could just be told where the melody lies, but the computer doesn’t like to be told such things.  Finicky computer…

As I wrote the tune out, I decided to type the lyrics in.  This is done by clicking on a note once, and pressing <CTRL L>.  Better still, you can go from one note to the next by typing a – or the space bar, so I can separate syllables without constantly clicking <CTRL L> over and over again.

Okay!  The melody has been put down, now time for the accompaniment.  In my opinion, the accompaniment is the most fun to write, because you can use it to create the mood of the song.  Yes, the melody is super important.  But the accompaniment decides if it will be a somber tune, a lively and up-tempo song, or a chord-chord-chord Christmas classic (if you don’t know what this is, look at how Christmas songs are written in any hymnal).  I love a plainsong, so my accompaniment will hopefully keep the song somber and just a little bit… melodramatic. 

I give the accompaniment license for a few measures at the beginning and the two stanzas of the prayer to give a little color to the song.  Oddly enough, my fingers decided that the accompaniment would be a round, with the voice alternating the same rhythms between the right and left hand.  I do this both times, with different musical rhythms.  It works so well, I can’t believe I wrote it when I hear the playback.  >POP!<  Pardon me, that was just my ego exploding just a little bit.

Ahhh… the song is coming along nicely.  But, as what often happens when I do something new, I have added a little too much dissonance, I think.  There are several places where I flinch now when I hear the clashing notes, and that shouldn’t happen in a Christmas carol, especially if I want it to be an instant classic (just kidding).  So I am now revamping several small bits of the accompaniment to keep it on the pleasantly plainsong side of slightly dissonant.

Of course, some of the areas are sacrosanct.  I absolutely love the harmonizing for the Iesus bars.  If I change that, my whole song would be totally different.  But, in the 6-part harmonies there is enough wiggle room that I may have gone a little out of control.

I am so almost done.  I only have a few small pockets of nothingness between me and a listening party with all my 2 readers!  Unfortunately, the burst of creativity that started this endeavor ran dry two days ago, and now I am slogging through a strong urge to stop.  I will continue until I am finished, but I will end this post for now.
To be continued on the second installment of Music Writing: Ave Maria.

My First Day of Choir

Hello, my time-conscious friends. As today’s title suggests, I recently joined a choir. How did I find time for it? Well, I basically used up my entire allotment of free time on Wednesday evenings, and my Sunday mornings to sing alto in the Highlands United Methodist Church at Five Points in Birmingham. So I get off work on Wednesday’s at 5pm and need to be at choir practice at 6:20. No problem, it takes less than 5 minutes to drive from where I work to the church. But it takes almost half an hour to get to my car, so Brant and I decided that it would be best for me just to stay on campus during this down time. I actually enjoyed the solitude. I had a mediocre cheddar bacon sandwich from the hospital cafeteria, made the slog to my car, and ate in my own space, listening to John Williams and the theme from E.T.: the Extra Terrestrial. Then I drove to the empty parking lot behind the church and in I went.

I was greeted warmly by no less than six people I didn’t know on my short trip up to the choir room. A hand was stuck out by Lindsey, who was dolling out the music for the week. She smiled and introduced herself, and already knew I was Lindy’s friend. FYI: Lindy Owens was the person that convinced me to join the choir in the first place. I was assigned a number for all my gear (there is so much music, from every era I know of) and told to sit anywhere. Of course, I chose to sit by Lindy. As we chatted about, well pretty much nothing, everyone strode in. This was the first rehearsal since their summer break, so everyone was getting reacquainted, but most of them still noticed I was the new fish and introduced themselves. I felt so welcomed… it was great so far.

The choirmaster (who is also the organist) came in and immediately started us on vocal warm-ups. Arpeggios going pretty high for me, but I sung along. Then arpeggios down, not really too low for me. Then he motioned for us to sit, warned us he was going to bust through things quickly, and he wasn’t kidding. He mentioned the name of a song, and started playing it. Luckily, each song had a number on the front, and my neighbor told me what the number was. It wasn’t too hard, but I had never heard it and stumbled a little. We divided the choir between the girls (sopranos and altos) and boys (bass and tenors) then all together. Next song. This one was weird, but he promised we would love it once we got it. A piece of the Magnificat. It was so tonally hard for me to get the notes, but by the fourth time I think I had it decently down. It pretty much spun like this through all the songs we were to sing in church in the near future, and then we broke for the evening.

The choirmaster called me to the front before I left. I thought I was going to get booted for the couple of lemons I warbled during some of the harder pieces we sung. The first thing he asked me was “what choir have you sung in?”

I stumbled. “I sung in youth choir when I was a kid, but I mostly play music. My Mom has been a church pianist / organist since before I was born (I don’t know why I said that). I play piano, French horn…”

He smiled. “I knew it. I was watching you. I could tell you knew how to read music well. And you caught on very quickly. I think you will be an asset to us here, and I want you to be a part of our choir this Sunday.” He had me fill out an “about me” card, sent me to get fitted for my robe, and that was it.

I felt so great! Totally worth losing seeing my husband until almost 10pm. Not that I didn’t miss Brant, but this is fun, challenging, and makes me feel so good. I just had to tell you all about it.

Musical Immersion for Sanity

Musical immersion is something I do when I want, desperately, to be creative but just don’t have the time or stamina to do it.  Work is a great example.  I listen to headphones whenever possible to keep myself focused on the job, because music does that for me.  But sometimes I just have an itch to make something (crafters out there understand this) and can’t scratch it at that time.  So I listen to particular types of music that allow my creativity to… how do I put this… feed and be satisfied until such time as I can do something about it.  I let my stifled energy feed of the genius of other creative masters until I can make my own masterpiece (or at least a masterpiece to me).

My favorite genre of music is film scores.  The music is specifically written to put feeling into the movie, to tell us when to cry, when to feel scared, when to be relieved.  It adds an extra level to the actors’ abilities, or gives them the air of more talent than they have.  Many of my favorites are from movies I could not stand, but the composer was just too good to be ignored.  Now, I love pop music, rock, rap, R&B, gospel, and even country and tejano.  These have great rhythms, and tell stories that are catchy.  But a good score makes me feel.

During those times when I have no time to do anything creative, I love to listen to music that makes me feel creative.  I have five go-to film composers that are my source of sanity when I have too much work to do to make something of my own.  These are Rachel Portman, Basil Poledouris, Ennio Morricone, John Barry, and my favorite, John Williams (the links are to YouTube videos of my favorite songs from their catalogs).  Each one brings a different flavor to the table, which I use to slake whichever creative energy is being stifled.  Of course, if you want to do musical immersion, you can choose whatever music gets you going.  I will try to describe how and why I use the composers, but sometimes it is hard to put into words how they make me feel.  So forgive me if some of this makes no sense to you.

“We All Complete” from the movie Never Let Me Go

Rachel Portman is great at the melancholy music, and can take a simple theme to great lengths, which add depth to the movies she is a part of.  Her movies include: The Joy Luck Club, Chocolat, The Cider House Rules, Never Let Me Go, The Manchurian Candidate, The Duchess, and Grey Gardens.  I go to her when I want to be writing but cannot.  My stories are often mired in morality tales, and her sensitivity give me the gravitas I crave when I write.

“Crystal Palace” from the atrocious Conan the Destroyer

Basil Poledouris is a grand, expansive writer.  He uses a strong base for a catchy melody, and then expands it gradually throughout the song, until you are surrounded by his vision.  His credits include: The Blue Lagoon, The original Conan movies, Red Dawn, RoboCop, Quigley Down Under, and Starship Troopers.  As you can see, he is very versatile as well.  I choose Mr. Poledouris when I scrapbook.  His titles are varied enough that I can find something for whatever I want to scrapbook about.  And his ability to form pictures through the sometimes overwhelming use of orchestra is perfect for converting a few pictures into a beautiful page.

Theme from The Mission, played by Yo-Yo Ma.

Brant’s beloved “The Ecstasy of Gold”

Ennio Morricone uses such unique ideas in his music, he is my eclectic guru.  His catalog includes: The Clint Eastwood spaghetti western trilogy, The Canterbury Tales, Once Upon a Time in America, Red Sonja, and The Mission.  He is an Italian composer, and most of his stuff I have never seen and can barely pronounce (his list is huge on IMDB).  In Brant’s favorite song, “The Ecstasy of Gold”, Mr. Morricone takes a simple theme, repeats it, and adds a soprano, some choir wa-waahs, and driving drums to give a feel of desperation that lets you know exactly what those guys are feeling in that scene (from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly).  Mr. Morricone is great for when I just don’t know what I want to do, but want to do something truly unique.

“Train to Johannesburg” from Cry, the Beloved Country

John Barry is a very romantic writer, and believe it or not my go to guy for baking.  Movies that benefitted from this trademark style include: several James Bond movies, Born Free, Somewhere in Time, Out of Africa, Dances with Wolves, and Cry, the Beloved Country.  His signature style, in my opinion, is to take a simple melody and make it more complex through the use of instruments rather than through harmonies and filler.  The melody pulls itself into the orchestra, instead of being held up by it, and creates an expansive feel, as witnessed by the movies he has done.  Simple ingredients and simple directions to make a wonderful palette, full of flavor and a sense of place.  Exactly what I want in my baking.

“Prologue” from Hook, a very underrated film score

John Williams is my favorite!  His use of French horns first drew me to him, because I loved to play his music myself.  You probably already know a bunch of his hits, because he collaborates with Steven Spielberg a lot.  But here is a sample of his enormous catalog: E.T., the Indiana Jones movies, the Star Wars sextet, the Christopher Reeves Superman movies, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the first three Harry Potter Movies, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Patriot, Far and Away… the list of things I love from him is too long to put here.  I go to John Williams for both writing and music composition.  His blending of a full orchestra into one strong voice, separating them into a cacophony of matching sounds, and bringing them back together is better than anything I can do.  And his masterful use of brass instruments to give a feeling of power and dignity for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles has become the theme music for the games ever since.

“Olympic Fanfare” who could NOT love this song?

Ah!  Just writing about him makes me want to go listen to a whole soundtrack right now.  I have to go immerse myself.  You have fun finding your immersion songs.  The list is half the creative fun, you know.

Music Writing: Arrangements My Way

Another long loved hobby of mine is writing music.  I grew up in a musical household.  My mother has played piano and organ for churches since before me and my siblings were born.  She taught piano, and started each of us on it when we were about five years old.  I sang in church choirs, played French horn in the school band and at special church services, and even sang solos in our church every so often (as did my sister).  One of the things I grew to love about music was music theory.  Creating something from strange symbols that actually came out of my mind.  Clutter and chaos into rhythm and melody.

The first type of music writing I learned to do was arrangement: writing a known song in a different style.  For French horn, this was as simple as transposing the song as is into a key more suited to my range.  I did that a lot.  A more unique form of arrangement is taking a piece of music and putting your own style to it.  Look at Christmas music every year, and you will hear arrangements.  In fact, Christmas music is where I started.  I would arrange pieces for me or my sister to sing in church, for me to play on the French horn, or my sister to play on her flute, with our mother to accompany us.  I loved doing this, and every year made two or three new arrangements of our favorite songs.  My favorite Christmas song to arrange is "O Come, O Come Emmanuel".  I love the plainsongs.  My sister liked to look up more unique songs, and my favorite from her list is "Jesus Christ the Apple Tree".

Arranging music is not hard.  I always start by just humming the tune, over and over, over a few hours or days.  Not always out loud, but let it run through my head.  I do this at work, while doing the dishes, doing homework, any time my humming wouldn’t really bother anyone.  Eventually, if through nothing more than sheer boredom from repetition, I would hear my head adding harmony.  Or I would hum the song slower, faster… the possibilities are different each time.  That is when I would try to write the music down or record it somehow.  Today’s phones are great for this, because I always have mine in my pocket or purse.  Then, I have to focus my mental energy (which is very hard for me) and try to lay the music down in my own particular order.
First, I lay down the melody.  This never takes long for me in an arrangement, because it has been stuck in my head for quite a while.  Then I choose the tempo and time signature, in that order.  I rarely set the key signature until the song is finished, because I am not always sure if the key I start arranging in is the one I will finish in.  I just write all the notes as flats and sharps until a key signature jumps out at me.  Time signature is the easiest for me, because I have no problem picking out the pattern of the song, even in it has changed from the traditional time signature for whatever piece of music I am working on.

After melody comes harmony.  The harmony in my simple arrangements is usually played by the right hand of the piano accompanist.  Sometimes, if I want more gravitas in the the song the harmony is played by the left hand (normally bass clef notes), but I try to keep it fairly simple for Christmas arrangements.  I also love to have a counter melody that the piano plays in the middle of my arrangements, something that I make up completely by myself.  The counter melody, to me, sounds like a second singer coming into the song, singing in conjunction with the main melody.  It also gives the piano accompanist a chance to shine, as it is usually played a little louder than just a harmony.

Lastly, I put in what I call “filler.”  this is the balance of the pianist’s accompaniment that rounds out the feeling of the arrangement.  Syncopation, or playing notes on or in between up beats, is something I like to use to add the feeling of complexity to a simple tune.  And I knew my mom could do any syncopation I could write.   If I wanted the arrangement to have a more traditional feel, the left hand would play two and three note cords on every beat, which would be reminiscent of what you would find in a church hymnal.  The filler, to me, is the most unique part of my arrangements, and what would take the most time in the writing.

And this is the method I would use to write an arrangement.  Until very recently, I would do this on a piano (when I lived in Levelland) or my Casio keyboard with staff pages I actually made myself (sometimes with a ruler and a pencil).  Now I use a freeware program called MuseScore on my computer.  When my arrangements became more and more complex, I realized that I started writing completely original compositions.  It was made clear to me that I could do this when I made a piano solo arrangement of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” in the style of Chopin; specifically my sister’s favorite nocturne, Nocturne in E Minor, Op. 72 no. 1.  I played it in church at the Christmas Eve service, and asked the pastor’s wife after the service what she thought of it.  She said she loved Chopin.  No one had realized that it was an arrangement I had written.

I would love to post these pieces for you to hear and critique.  But when I moved to Alabama, I left them in my mother’s house in Texas.  I am still working on getting them sent to me, and will post them as soon as I get them.  But finding them is troublesome.  I, with my scatterbrain, know I kept them in a folder, but cannot tell my sister where they are.  But she keeps looking.