Originally Posted By: Noel96
I really enjoyed this.

I'm glad to hear it! laugh

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You are the only second person on the planet that I am acquainted with who has read Johann Joseph Fux's Gradus ad Parnassum. That was my starting text when I embarked on my journey of teaching myself counterpoint and 4-part harmony. In retrospect, it was fine place to begin. I wonder how many people will read your post and wonder how to pronounce his surname?

Wikipedia says it's safe to say his name. smile

It really is an excellent text - or at least, Alfred Mann's translation of the parts on counterpoint, The Study of Counterpoint. I took it with me on my honeymoon, since it was a cross-continent flight to Bermuda. Stupidly, we picked the off-season to go without doing sufficient research, so there was plenty of time in the hotel to read it, as well as play on the piano I found tucked away in side room, as rain poured outside.

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Your arrangements are always first class and this stands proudly beside all that you've posted to date. I was captivated by the way you used the cello. It blended so hauntingly well with the instruments. Your vocals and background vocals also fitted the mood of the melody very well indeed. When I first heard the chorus, I was immediately reminded of the light-rock/folk sound of Bobby Goldsboro (he's one of my favourites).

I have a tendency to over-orchestrate, so with this song I didn't add as much as I usually do. As I mentioned, the cello is really, really lovely. It was painful to keep removing more and more of it from the arrangement.

floyd jane's latest song was an excellent reminder, and helped keep me on track.

But... the mix had a lot to do with it as well. When my son got to it, his first reaction was that the kick drum and bass were fighting for the same space. (We put a high pass on the cello, too). Once he fixed that, the problem was there was a lack of mids in the arrangement. Most of the mixing was focused on fixing that. The contrast between the stark initial mix and the more full final mix is pretty stark.

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I found a lot to like with this. I've got to say that I definitely admire you for choosing an ABAB verse rhyme scheme and then upping the ante with an ABCABC chorus rhyme scheme!

Yeah, I painted myself into a corner with that one! I think I grabbed the form from the demo, and then decided I wanted a little tag at the end so I could have more major 7th chords.

Writing to a pre-existing melody is like having a voice singing lyrics that you can't quite make out. You know them when you get them right... but most of the time, it's "Nope, that's not it."

But making that C section work lyrically meant that the lyric had to emotionally come down at that point, which junked a lot of ideas. Someone more clever than me could have made it work, I'm sure.


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You make it look and sound very, very easy though.

I wish it were! I keep having to re-learn to try to say less, and keep it simple. Ask the Quakers about that! laugh

Thanks, it's always good to get your analytical ear.

-- David Cuny
My virtual singer development blog

Vocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?