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.

One Hour “Pastries”–Mini Doughnuts

For those that want to know, doughnuts are not pastries.  Technically, given the way they are made, they would be closer to cakes.  That being said, doughnuts are often sold in bakeries that specialize in pastries, because they are crowd pleasers.  And America is well known for taking liberties with food categories.  The truth is, I recently purchased a new baking pan from Bed Bath & Beyond and I wanted to play with it.  It was very quick, so I thought I would share my results with you.
First off, I will show you a picture of my helper chef, D’argo, who was a little too eager to be a part of the baking process that he was banned from the kitchen while I worked.  He almost tripped me twice, with his frenetic running around.  But he was hopeful through the end of the process that he would be allowed back in.


I promise to only trip you when you are carrying bacon...

 As always, I gathered my ingredients together, to make sure I had everything.  Success!  I had enough for a double batch, assuming everything turned out right.


If you have ingredients in jars your Grandma would love, it will taste even better!

 Here is the pan that started it all.  Isn’t it cute?  On the back of the packaging is a simple recipe for cake doughnuts, made with buttermilk and a touch of sugar.  Wait… there is also a tiny recipe for a vanilla glaze for the doughnuts…


These make mini-doughnuts... or large Cheerios.



If you can't read this, I give all the amounts below.

               















Let’s make that too.  I have the ingredients.  There’s not much to a glaze other than water, a touch of flavor, and a load of sugar.  I even have food coloring.  Ooh!  And sprinkles.  Great donuts have sprinkles! <drool>


Powdered sugar... the most dangerous powder I ever deal with.

 Anyway, back to the doughnuts.  First step, preheat oven to 425.  Second step, spray the doughnut trenches with vegetable oil spray.  Then, judging by the recipe – which you should always read through before making for the first time – my third step was to melt the butter.  As it wasn’t but 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter, it took about 25 seconds in the microwave.


Delicious delicious sunshine!

 Dry ingredients first.  In a big bowl, mix 1 1/4 cup flour, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg, and 1 1/2 teaspoon salt.  Mix it all up.  I just stir with whatever mixing spoon I used last.  But, I'm not that picky.


Avoid the temptation to throw this at someone.

 Add the liquid ingredients: 1/2 cup buttermilk, the melted butter, and 1 egg, lightly beaten.  Stir until moistened.  Do not over stir, because you don’t want to de-fluff the dough.  The key to a great cake donut is fluffiness.  Just ask anyone who has ever eaten a squished doughnut.  They suck.


Don't' fling this at anyone either.



Okay.  You can fling this.  Just a little though.

              










If you have a pastry bag, this dough is just thick enough to load into it, which really helps in loading the tiny doughnut trenches in the pan.  I didn’t have a clean one at hand, so I did what anyone in a hurry would do.  I loaded it into a quart-sized Ziploc bag, sealed it really good, and cut a tiny piece of one corner off.  Quick-time pastry bag.  Fill the doughnut trenches half full says the recipe.  That is easy to do with a pastry bag.  Not so easy to do with a spoon.  You can trust me on this.


They kind of look like tortellini right now.



It looks gross, but trust me, this works.
















                             
Pop the pan in the oven and bake 4-5 minutes.  The doughnuts will be done when you touch one and it springs back.  For anyone who tries this and doesn’t know what this means, if you put your finger on a doughnut and it doesn’t leave an indention… they are ready.  They will still be pale, but don’t let that bother you.  Let it cool for 5 minutes before flopping out of the pan.  Mine pretty much fell right out.  Let them cool on a wire rack.  Respray the pan and load up another dozen.




If you eat one now, you will lose a few tastebuds.  Totally worth it.

     
The recipe says it makes 2 dozen of these bad boys.  But I made a little over three dozen.  As you can tell by the picture below, they overfilled a trench every so often.

This is how Spaghettios make each individual noodle

Now, on to the glaze!  Actually, as the recipe says, it is more of an icing than a glaze.  I added just a touch of yellow liquid coloring.  As you can tell by the photo, I over did it a little.  Well, I like it anyway.  If you want to make a donut glaze to make it look more like your traditional donut... heat the glaze just a little.  This will require you to dip the donut into the glaze, turn it back over, and let it drip over something as it dries (and it will, never fear).  That sounded like a little too much work for me, so I didn't do that.


That looks almost like liquid uranium.

 I decorated the doughnuts three different ways.  First, I used another Ziploc pastry bag (snack size this time) to put a circle of glaze on each doughnut, followed by sprinkles.  Second, I used the pastry bag and swiped stripes across several doughnuts, again followed by sprinkles.  Third, I left some without icing.  My husband, Brant, doesn’t really like icing, so I knew he would eat those.  Melted chocolate would also go over great with these.  But when hasn't chocolate and doughnuts gone together?


Just like the Simpson's doughnuts.... only yellow.



Plain.. for people who can't stand the happiness of sugar.



Tiger striping... you can pretend you are fierce when you eat these!

       
Now that they were done, I needed a taste-monkey to see if they were really good or just so-so.  Brant was the victim – er, taste-monkey – last time, so I decided to try someone new.  The dogs volunteered, but since they can’t talk and will eat anything I thought to find someone else.  So I took the doughnuts to work, and asked a friend from our neighbor lab, Stephanie Brosius, to try.  I captured her immediate reaction.


Taste-monkey Stephanie approves!



We want to eat doughnuts!  (and bacon!)

            

Making a Mountain (Scrapbook Layout)

While trying to come up with ideas for the Utah-based honeymoon album I a making for our recently married niece, I decided to look at pictures on the internet from scenic vistas throughout the state.  I saw one that was just perfectly framed, and it hit me.  it is layers of mountains... I bet I could make a page based on this picture.  The original picture if found at the Bess Realty Group website, believe it or not.
First thing's first.  I collected cardstock from my collection that matched well enough to make the layered colors.  For the sky background and farthest mountains, I used cardstock with white centers, so I could sand them (as I will show a little later).  The rest was from my beloved Bazzill cardstock collection.  And I pulled all my green Ranger Distress inks and a couple of extras (Black Soot, Chipped Sapphire, Weatherd Wood, Crushed Olive, Bundled Sage, Forest Moss, Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters, and Pine Needless).  The rest of the equipment are: a pair of scissors, a fine knife for detailed cutting, a very thin (#005) marker for light details, and a nail file for sanding.


The sky is easy enough to do.  I could just leave the pretty light blue background plain, but I wanted to put a scant few clouds, like in the picture.  So I tore the top off of the file, to make myself a tiny file, and sanded in a circular motion until I got the shapes I liked.  I also used some Q-tips for painting, but forgot to add them to the picture.  Easy.
         

Next, I traced a mountain range on the gray-blue paper, putting the highest peak on the right page, and lowering the left side so it will fall under the next layer.  I cut this out, using the fine blade to get a couple of cuts a little more rounded.  I inked the edges of the mountains with the Weathered Wood ink to disguise the white center.


Before I get to the distressing of it all, I went ahead and cut out the rest of the layers.  Next up is the blue-green paper.  On the left it rises above the mountain in the background, and on the right it is basically on the same level while the mountain towers above it.  I just freehanded a few mounds, making sure that they were not too high to cut off the mountain, or too low to make the front range look weird.  Then the front, light green layer, starts on the right about halfway down the page and just curves down across both pages, until it is close to the bottom left edge.  I used one piece of paper for both the left and right, to conserve.  I hoard my Bazzill paper almost religiously.


Here is, in my opinion, the coolest part.  I cut two and a half inches off the bottom to reduce bulk, but you can leave it in if you want to.  Then I wadded them up into small balls.  I carefully pulled them back out, and didn't flatten.  I used another piece of the nail file to sand certain areas, easily done by sanding the folds, to resemble little snow trails like in the picture.  To make the mountain shadows, I used Chipped Sapphire and rubbed it where I wanted it with my finger.  This gave it a smudgy look, instead of just inking any folds from the crumbling.  When the ink dries, then I flattened it enough to tape it down onto the background.


For the middle range, notice that there are trees on them.  However, they are so small that I was pretty sure I couldn't draw them.  So, I used the cast off paper from when I cut it and experimented with my greens until I found three that looked good to layer over each other.  I chose (Bundled Sage, Forest Moss, and Pine Needless).  I took the lightest ink, Forest Moss, and just slid it back and forth on the page, to give a layer of color to the matte green background.  Then, I took Bundled Sage and a Q-tip.  I tapped the tip onto the ink pad a few times until it was saturated, and then just made lines in areas where trees might be on both pages.  The darkest ink, Pine Needles, repeated these lines, until I had a mess of lines in groups on this layer.  I let it dry and taped it down onto the page.  It looks cool to me.

The bottom range is brighter, with larger trees. I had planned to make some trees with green mulberry paper, but I was unable to locate any.  Maybe mulberry has fallen out of style.  So, I decided to leave it blank.  This will be where any pictures or journaling my niece wants to do will be added.

The final result is very pretty.  And I proved to myself that I can be creative without a template or someone else's help.  And so can you.  Now, go choose a simple picture and amaze me.

Scrapbooking with a Template, Take One

For those of us who want the time to enjoy scrapbooking as well as making something interesting, there are a plethora of helpers out there.  They are called templates, and they can be found in blogs, magazines, magazine websites, and even your fellow scrapbookers have probably doodled lots of them.  I know I have.  I buy magazines every so often and like to read them, and then cut out everything I like and add it to a box.  They come in handy when I have scrapper’s block, or when I want to make something intricate but don’t have the time or inclination to think of what to do.
Today, I made a two-page spread for the honeymoon scrapbook I am working on using a template.  Yes, it was a blank page for someone else to put their pictures in.  But that doesn’t mean you cannot do this for yourself.  Why not make blank pages for yourself, so that if something awesome comes along, you already have pages ready to put them into to wow your family and friends.  It is faster, in my opinion, to make blank pages than to make ones for pictures you have had sitting around for ages.  But don’t worry, I have ways to make those pages go faster as well.  Anyway, let us continue.
Here is the template.  It was cut from a magazine, but honestly I could not tell you which one, because I cut this out well before I decided to make a blog.  It looks cool, and not too difficult (in my opinion).  The best thing about this template, and what makes it fairly easy, is that dimensions are written on there for everything I have to cut.  After that, picking out the papers to use is the fun part.  I only used paper, a paper cutter, and a little ink for cut edges for this page.

As you can see, I decided to move away from the greens and browns of the scrapbook so far and use a bright, delicious orange for the background.  This is going to be a page about food and taking a break, so I thought it would be appropriate.

When I am making blank pages, I work from back to front.  I start with the base paper, then the background paper(s), any large decorations, journaling, photo mats, and embellishments.  I know this sounds like “duh, how else would you do it?”  Well, normally I pick pictures that I want to see together, matte them, then figure out what should go behind them to make up the page.  So I pretty much am going to go backwards for me here.  After laying out the base papers, I cut out and tape down the background paper.  There are two large rectangles in this template that make up the background.  I cut the large piece of paper behind the picture mats.  It looks like it is supposed to be a single piece, but I used an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper, which wasn’t big enough.  So, I used two coordinating pieces of paper.  I think it looks kind of funky.

The second back paper I decided to make a potato brown.  For the large, interesting shape, I freehanded a previously used piece of Ranger Distress paper.  It had a kooky bingo pattern on it that I like, but can never find a use for.  One of the best things about abstract shapes used for filler is that they don’t specifically have to match the theme.  Their only job is to look good.  And possibly provide a nice space for journaling if need be.  Which I think this will likely be.

Next came the long pieces of paper across the bottom of the page.  Now, it looked to me like these could oh so easily be have been ribbon, or fabric or anything I wanted it to be.  For me, I saw this as a perfect way to use up those extra bits of paper I always get when I trim down background paper.  So I went into my scrap paper stash and found two pieces that matched the color scheme and were close enough to the right sizes for the page.  Note that I said close enough.  Like I say, templates and measurements – at least on this blog – are guidelines, not rules set in stone.  Besides, they look sweet.

Remember that potato brown paper I cut for one of the background papers?  I cut as many mattes as I could from the leftover for about four of the picture sizes listed on the template.  I put off white cardstock on those mattes, inked around the edges with walnut Ranger Distress Ink.  For the rest of the photo mattes I used a lighter orange cardstock than that of the main background.  Still sweet.

Last but not least, I added

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.