It was over with

The finished version of the song can be heard on my blogger profile, under the Audio Clip section.

So, after the joyous gathering of music listeners, we decided to poke fun at me for making music. Joking as if it were so cacophony, we grasped our ears in pain with expressions of extreme anguish pervading our visage.
It was supposed to go: group picture as getting ready to listen, then the picture of us during the song.


We had to have some fun somehow. I guess this was our little joke!

Finale

So the moment of truth has approached. I was able to round up some people (3) to come and "view" my song. I had printed out three questionnaires for my viewers to fill out so the song viewing can be counted as the final product of my graduation project. I handed out the sheets and set everyone in their places as I began the song. Everyone listened intently, writing their answers and comments appropriately. Then the song was over.

They all said they liked it and that I had done a very good job. I was incredibly pleased with my work and the reaction of my audience, especially the answers and comments on the questionnaires.

Clearly, the product was a success and I'm ready to now begin work on the presentation speech.

Digital Dummy

The next step following the song being written to paper was to transfer that to the computer. More specifically, a digital audio dashboard (music creator) program called Fruity Loops. It normally does a pretty good job of imitating music if you know how to use it well. I'm still new to it, so my music sounded a bit shaky. Nonetheless, it turned out pretty good. An interesting thing about Fruity Loops is how EXPENSIVE the program is. Just the base program itself isn't bad, but the way they get you is by making you pay for all the plugins and peripherals. This basically means every single utility you use costs money in some way, so it's almost impossible to make a song for free.

But, all money costs aside, I was able to start my work in Fruity Loops. I started out by figuring out the exact letter note for each note I used in my song, using the Japanese scale we created as a reference point. EFABCE was the letter scale we used. From that point, I just found each letter in all 6 or 7 ocataves (different levels of pitch) that were located in the Fruity Loops piano role, placed a marker at each one for easy reference and started work from there. It was a long process, but once the preliminary work was done, everything else came pretty easy.

After a few days of work, getting the whole song together, keeping the continuity and rhythm, I was finally finished dabbling with this song.
I named it "Kaede no Odori" or Dance of the Red Leaf.

At the Park

I decided that the most productive I would be in terms of getting more music written was to go to the park and be surrounded by serenity. I had an amazing time just walking through the park, sitting down by a bench and pulling out my guitar. Passerby would wave to me or engage in small talk, usually pertaining to what I was doing or if I was a 'lonely musician.' I found the experience to be very uplifting and peaceful. I had a great time.

Moreover, I was able to get some more music written for my song. It had a very melancholy, secluded feel, so I started batting around ideas in my head as to what I was to name the song. I decided that 'The Dance of the Red Leaf' would be an appropriate name. I also thought that I should translate that into Japanese to help fit the theme. At this point, I haven't done that yet. But once I finish writing the song, I'll get this translated. I love nature, and this experience was amazing. I'll surely be out there again to finish writing my song.

Let the writing begin

My third visit with my mentor had my guitar playing abilities put to the test. Really, all I did was write down some note progressions; little riffs that I thought sounded good. It was rather difficult because I had to first figure out something that flows well and works with the overall theme, play it multiple times with slight variations to find the best combination, then finally STOP, put my guitar down and write it out on a tabs sheet. Of course, it was this incessant stopping that got me frustrated because sometimes I'd forget which string or on which fret to place the note. Therefore I would have pick up the guitar and do the whole thing over again until I figured out where that note was SUPPOSED to go.













I didn't get tons of work accomplished, but I got started on my way to actually writing a song. Now my fingers hurt real bad!

Entered the land of ZEN

My next encounter with my mentor had me sitting out in the backyard. I should say the back 'nature valley' as he has this awesome creek trickling through this forested valley area complete with rocks! Well, I sat down on a little bench and became entranced by the peaceful trickle of the babbling brook. This helped me to get in the 'mood' for letting music flow.


Sitting in the forest was very peaceful and playing my guitar made it so much better. It helped me to get my musical ideas flowing like the river. But after about 45 minutes of this, I returned to his loft house and started laying out what I had done. It wasn't anything solid, just something I had put together that sounded pretty good.

It's my first time

The blog is up and running and I've set everything up. I should explain a little about my project first because I know you're so ready to hear about it!

Well, the product is going to be an original musical composition with traditional Japanese elements including the use of an electronically produced Koto sound. A Koto is a traditional japanese instrument that is a 7 foot long stringed device that is plucked while laying on the ground.In my first session with my mentor, Michael Protheroe, I started learning the note scales for the instrument, and now I'm practicing, learning stuff. We also learned about each other; I got to understand more about his musical past which was pretty interesting. He plays all sorts of covers of various famous bands, all acoustical adaptations. Protheroe usally plays at open mics and bars for entertainment. He's a pretty cool guy. He asked some questions about my grad project and the details that applied to the product. All this while he was showing me chords and scales which we used in the product.

The first blog is done.