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Post by Dave Dexter on Dec 18, 2019 23:36:40 GMT
This felt good. I entered a competition with a London choir to select 12 composers and record their SATB christmas carols, and got in - making this the first time I was in a room with people performing my music who I didn't have to pay. That's a definite step forward for me. I attended the rehearsal last week in a beautiful church, where they mastered mine in two renditions and apparently recorded it the next day inside ten minutes. Quite a level beyond the last choir I worked with, and an amazing thing to witness. Here's mine: soundcloud.com/orasingers/9-i-sing-of-a-maiden-dave and here's the score: I Sing Of A Maiden SATB score - Dave Dexter.pdf (82.02 KB) The text is a 15th century poem/carol and I went for a relatively simple, medieval/Renaissance feel - not that I'm likely to try anything else - with lots of homophony, a few interesting intervals and some dissonance, which I'm becoming slowly more adventurous with. The text is five verses, and I evolved gradually into a darker tonality by the 4th verse before returning to the initial relatively uplifting feel in the 5th. I also kept the range generally safe and attempted to follow good four-part form as much as possible. SATB, three singers per part. It's really the first notch on my CV that demonstrates an outside group showing trust and interest in my work - hope you like it, they pretty much made me sound better than I deserve!
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Post by gx on Dec 19, 2019 21:34:20 GMT
Beautiful, Dave. Just the right amount of harmonic surprise. The part writing - very natural and solid. Great job! And, what a fantastic performance! Congrats!
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Post by Tim Marko on Dec 19, 2019 23:01:55 GMT
BRAVO! Dave. It's great that you're getting recognized by others. You deserved it with this piece. Just enough dissonance to keep it interesting while still staying true to the lyrics. Congrats!
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Post by Dave Dexter on Dec 21, 2019 9:17:44 GMT
I appreciate it, guys - and a g minor with a b nat in the bass! It's not setting the world on fire but I don't think I'd have tried that a year or two ago.
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Post by driscollmusick on Jan 6, 2020 19:50:47 GMT
Dave, sorry I'm finally catching up on stuff after a really busy holiday season.
I really enjoyed this. Lovely piece and great recording! The harmonic shifts work particularly well, I think, but because they're not on obvious words, it feels like there is a deeper level of mystery happening below the surface. The music really suits the obscure, mystical feeling of the text
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