Hi everyone,
After this blog I don't have to keep posting blogs to tell you what I am up to during the school year when it comes to this project because it is sadly coming to an end. :'( I really enjoyed this project because it made me deal with a difficult program and really think about music in a different way. Music is fun. I always knew that, but it is the hard work of the composer or arranger that makes it so that we can read the music at what ever level we are at. I found that Finale is a wonderfully hard program to work with but once you understand it the program can do a lot for you. I wish this project didn't have to end but with the end of this project my free trials also end so it would be a chalenge to keep writing the music using Finale. I am sad that this is my senior year so I won't be able to do this project again. But I have enjoyed it both years that I have done it. Good bye all of my readers. You might hear from me sometime if I am able to get Finale again. If not good bye I has been a fun half of the year with you.
-Curtis
Friday, December 21, 2012
Thursday, December 6, 2012
FINISHED!!!!
Hello Everyone!
I finished the whole thing!!!! I got it so that I have Forget you all written out. Sadly I will have to do something to save it and not sure quite yet what but until then here is a recording! It comes up as a video but that is the best I could do. Now I know it is kinda crappy I recorded it over speakers onto a voice recorder that I have. Now enjoy!
-CurtisFriday, November 30, 2012
Last Day and a Bust
Hi Everyone,
So I basically got nothing to very little done. Why? I spent all of class trying to get my computer to work then I ended up having to do it by ear and my voice because my computer refused to work. I just now got it to work and I am extremely frustrated at my computer and wish that I didn't have to work with a computer that didn't like me but you have to work with what you got. So yeah, I learned how hard to learn something from ear than put it into music. I will HAVE to work on it at home and other times now because I didn't get to finish it Tuesday in band. Thanks everyone for catching up.
-Curtis
So I basically got nothing to very little done. Why? I spent all of class trying to get my computer to work then I ended up having to do it by ear and my voice because my computer refused to work. I just now got it to work and I am extremely frustrated at my computer and wish that I didn't have to work with a computer that didn't like me but you have to work with what you got. So yeah, I learned how hard to learn something from ear than put it into music. I will HAVE to work on it at home and other times now because I didn't get to finish it Tuesday in band. Thanks everyone for catching up.
-Curtis
Friday, November 9, 2012
Day 4 of Google Project
Hello everyone. I haven't been on in a while and kinda left you in a non-knowing zone. My computer is fine. I managed to get back all the info that I had lost. Having it all written down is a VERY good thing.
So, what did I do this past class? Well lets see... I managed to find an even better place to do my music. It is right next to the drinking fountain and the door but hardly anyone goes by there and it is actually quite so that is good.
Then I got started on doing the peice. I got to the part of the chorus where Cee Lo goes up the first time. I have the base part going throughout that and debating on changing a few things before the next google day so we will see if I do that and I will get on and tell you guys if I do. Well yeah. I learned also that I could use the piano version and just give the people the parts that I want them to have, thanks Jason, but I find that cheating so I am not going to do that for at least this one. Maybe when I am doing it later on in the year but for right now I refuse to take the easy route.
Well yeah. That is all for right now. Talk to you guys soon.
-Curtis
So, what did I do this past class? Well lets see... I managed to find an even better place to do my music. It is right next to the drinking fountain and the door but hardly anyone goes by there and it is actually quite so that is good.
Then I got started on doing the peice. I got to the part of the chorus where Cee Lo goes up the first time. I have the base part going throughout that and debating on changing a few things before the next google day so we will see if I do that and I will get on and tell you guys if I do. Well yeah. I learned also that I could use the piano version and just give the people the parts that I want them to have, thanks Jason, but I find that cheating so I am not going to do that for at least this one. Maybe when I am doing it later on in the year but for right now I refuse to take the easy route.
Well yeah. That is all for right now. Talk to you guys soon.
-Curtis
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Trouble in Computer Paradise
So guess what happened when I opened up my computer today, this is the one I am doing all my Google Project stuff on? It won't work. I mean Windows decided that it wanted to not work so it was going to go through all the usual stuff but then go all wacky when it got to the part of the computer where you sign in to your account. I got a black screen with writing running down it until it said everything should work. You know like the stuff that the computer says in binary code except it was actual typing. So that sucks. I finally got it working again though much trouble shooting and the scare of having to let it restore itself (it said some stuff might not come back that was done recently and didn't say how far back it was restoring itself to). I do not know yet if I lost anything that has to do with the Google project but I have some other things that I have done more recently that are still on the computer so it is looking good. If I am unable to find my Google project information...you will hear it in my next blog entry when I am saying how I had to do almost everything over again.
Also looking at the Stats again I see that I also have China and Irland looking at my blog. Hello new people who have come to see what I am doing! I hope to see you again!
-Curtis
Also looking at the Stats again I see that I also have China and Irland looking at my blog. Hello new people who have come to see what I am doing! I hope to see you again!
-Curtis
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
It is day 3 of this wonderful project of music
Hello everyone! Ok so looking at who else is looking at my blog I should probably say hello in three other ways. (Pardon if I write something wrong the only foreign language that I learned was Spanish and I am pretty sure Russia, Germany, and France do not speak that as their first language.) Bonjour à tous! Hallo an alle! Привет всем! So, why I just did what I did. Well, in class Mr. Matthys told us that our "Google Project" was shown in a meeting last Thursday (don't remember what is was or when so don't quote me on this) but that our pages might have gotten some attention or might be getting some and if we were interested to see where it is all coming from there is a cool thing on the Stats bar that we can see how many people visited from what country. I must say it is kinda cool. It doesn't say who looked at it but just how many people total and how many people per country. So, mine is 44 from the US, 3 from Russia, 2 from Germany, and one from France. I have been looking at it anyways because it is interesting to see the traffic that my little blog gets.
Ok. Now back to business. :( What did I do today. Well in all truth I had to fight my computer and the system that I am working with. I found that what I had written down last time after finding out that Finale hates me was partially wrong so I had to go in and fix that. (so annoying!) And that was after having to find a wall outlet again. Trust me, go into a big room and try to find all the wall outlets, there has to be at least 30 people socializing in it. Then subtract all the ones that either have large numbers of talking people by them, are getting used by computers, speakers, other people, and for some weird reason are just loud. You will find that the options you have left are very few if any. So that was my struggle.
I managed to grab a room that was mostly quite with one of my friends. With only one person playing an interment, an acoustic guitar, it is a lot easier to hear what you are trying to do. So, I settled down and got to work. I found the errors in the music for Forget You by Cee Lo Green and fixed them. (the tuba was the only bad part and I only had the intro kind a done) Then I got started on assigning parts for other parts. I decided that I should probably cut the piece down because otherwise it would not have finished by the time that the timeout is finished. So, now it is just down to the intro and the chorus for what I am going to be doing. This will make it easier for me to do a few more songs though so that is good. Anyways back to the parts. I finished the intro part of the song for all the interments ..except drums. For some reason I can get everything but the drums. I am determined to just ask for a bit of help from some of the drummers when it comes to that point but for now I am sorry but I am just not doing the drums till I have to before I have to give it to the people to play. Plus if I am going to do We Will Rock You by Queen then I will have done the drummers a song anyways.
Now what was I talking about...Oh right what I did. So yeah I finished the intro and got started on the chorus. I didn't get too far into the chorus because, lets face it, writing music by ear is just a hard thing to do. Though what I really found helpful was when my friend, Alex, helped me find the notes that seemed to fit and helped me hear when something was wrong. When I had someone helping me I found that things worked a lot better then when I was just working alone. Plus it kinda made it a bit more fun. When you are trying to concentrate and the person next to you is playing songs and making silly faces to get you to laugh because you are concentrating so hard it is really funny and you will start to laugh.
Well yeah that was my Google Day. I am planning on working on it some more with Alex sometime but I am not sure if that is going to happen this week or next week or when. Hopefully soon so that I will be able to get this song done! Then I can move on to some more and get some of them off my list. I think that I might continue doing this for the rest of the year rather then just stop when the Google Project stops at the end of the Semester, I think it would be fun and I have quite a few songs to do. Ok, that is all I really have to say...so yeah until next time have fun with what ever your doing. Oh and go see three amazing movies that I just saw! (I AM NOT ADVERTISING! I JUST THINK THEY ARE AWESOME AND HAVE GOOD MUSIC IN THEM!) So the movies are "Here Comes the Boom", "Pitch Perfect", and "The Perks of Being a Wallflower." All of them are AMAZING! So yeah!
-Curtis
Ok. Now back to business. :( What did I do today. Well in all truth I had to fight my computer and the system that I am working with. I found that what I had written down last time after finding out that Finale hates me was partially wrong so I had to go in and fix that. (so annoying!) And that was after having to find a wall outlet again. Trust me, go into a big room and try to find all the wall outlets, there has to be at least 30 people socializing in it. Then subtract all the ones that either have large numbers of talking people by them, are getting used by computers, speakers, other people, and for some weird reason are just loud. You will find that the options you have left are very few if any. So that was my struggle.
I managed to grab a room that was mostly quite with one of my friends. With only one person playing an interment, an acoustic guitar, it is a lot easier to hear what you are trying to do. So, I settled down and got to work. I found the errors in the music for Forget You by Cee Lo Green and fixed them. (the tuba was the only bad part and I only had the intro kind a done) Then I got started on assigning parts for other parts. I decided that I should probably cut the piece down because otherwise it would not have finished by the time that the timeout is finished. So, now it is just down to the intro and the chorus for what I am going to be doing. This will make it easier for me to do a few more songs though so that is good. Anyways back to the parts. I finished the intro part of the song for all the interments ..except drums. For some reason I can get everything but the drums. I am determined to just ask for a bit of help from some of the drummers when it comes to that point but for now I am sorry but I am just not doing the drums till I have to before I have to give it to the people to play. Plus if I am going to do We Will Rock You by Queen then I will have done the drummers a song anyways.
Now what was I talking about...Oh right what I did. So yeah I finished the intro and got started on the chorus. I didn't get too far into the chorus because, lets face it, writing music by ear is just a hard thing to do. Though what I really found helpful was when my friend, Alex, helped me find the notes that seemed to fit and helped me hear when something was wrong. When I had someone helping me I found that things worked a lot better then when I was just working alone. Plus it kinda made it a bit more fun. When you are trying to concentrate and the person next to you is playing songs and making silly faces to get you to laugh because you are concentrating so hard it is really funny and you will start to laugh.
Well yeah that was my Google Day. I am planning on working on it some more with Alex sometime but I am not sure if that is going to happen this week or next week or when. Hopefully soon so that I will be able to get this song done! Then I can move on to some more and get some of them off my list. I think that I might continue doing this for the rest of the year rather then just stop when the Google Project stops at the end of the Semester, I think it would be fun and I have quite a few songs to do. Ok, that is all I really have to say...so yeah until next time have fun with what ever your doing. Oh and go see three amazing movies that I just saw! (I AM NOT ADVERTISING! I JUST THINK THEY ARE AWESOME AND HAVE GOOD MUSIC IN THEM!) So the movies are "Here Comes the Boom", "Pitch Perfect", and "The Perks of Being a Wallflower." All of them are AMAZING! So yeah!
-Curtis
Sunday, October 7, 2012
The Second Actual Google Day!
Hello again!
I know it has been a while since I posted last about my work but hey I haven't had much time to be on my computer. I know go figure I am a teenager and my whole project is basically on the computer but oh well. So what did I do last class? Well I started working on Forget You by Cee Lo Green. I have the Trombone part and the Tuba and Bass as the same part just in a chord in some places so that works well. I only have some of the intro down though because I could not exactly concentrate too well in class when I can't hear what I have to hear because I have a trombone player playing not 5 feet away and is basically blasting his part and not even turning up the volume full blast made it easier to hear MY music. But yeah so I have the first part of that done so I don't really have to worry much about that if I work at home. Oh I also learned what is the ranges for the insterments where you can hear them in the pep band songs. That made things a lot easier because before I was just looking through pep band music and guessing what was an ok range. Ha ha found out that I needed to raise the trombone up a whole octave. Oh the last thing I learned on the google day is that Finale lies!!!!! It told me I would have 30 days to work with this one program. It didn't even go 7 days before shutting me out. I mean come on! That is just a bunch of crap! I mean I got the program the last time I published and then last Friday it tells me I was timed out. Isn't that just bad. Oh well I can just use it and actually write it down in my music score kind of book I guess. Oh, yeah I got one of those too. It is awesome! But yeah that is all I really have to write. So, enjoy! I will talk to you soon, when ever I next work on the google project. Cio!
-Curtis
I know it has been a while since I posted last about my work but hey I haven't had much time to be on my computer. I know go figure I am a teenager and my whole project is basically on the computer but oh well. So what did I do last class? Well I started working on Forget You by Cee Lo Green. I have the Trombone part and the Tuba and Bass as the same part just in a chord in some places so that works well. I only have some of the intro down though because I could not exactly concentrate too well in class when I can't hear what I have to hear because I have a trombone player playing not 5 feet away and is basically blasting his part and not even turning up the volume full blast made it easier to hear MY music. But yeah so I have the first part of that done so I don't really have to worry much about that if I work at home. Oh I also learned what is the ranges for the insterments where you can hear them in the pep band songs. That made things a lot easier because before I was just looking through pep band music and guessing what was an ok range. Ha ha found out that I needed to raise the trombone up a whole octave. Oh the last thing I learned on the google day is that Finale lies!!!!! It told me I would have 30 days to work with this one program. It didn't even go 7 days before shutting me out. I mean come on! That is just a bunch of crap! I mean I got the program the last time I published and then last Friday it tells me I was timed out. Isn't that just bad. Oh well I can just use it and actually write it down in my music score kind of book I guess. Oh, yeah I got one of those too. It is awesome! But yeah that is all I really have to write. So, enjoy! I will talk to you soon, when ever I next work on the google project. Cio!
-Curtis
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Told You I Would Be Back On Soon
Hello people who look at this little blog I have! I told you I would be on again. Though I didn't spend as much time as I did yesterday so there will not be as much to report. I was thinking of the songs that I was going to do and well I think I might take some off my list. There is not enough happening for the drummers in some of the songs also I don't know if I will have time for all the songs sadly. I will probably get rid of Good Time, Too Close, and if I find it too hard to do Gangnam Style. They are ok songs but to put them into pep band music and have people get what songs they are will be a challenge that might be a bit too challenging. Some Nights will also be a challenge but I like the drums for it too much to let that one go, plus it is popular enough people will know it.
-Curtis
-Curtis
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Some Home Work :'(
Ok. Today was the first day I actually did some work on the 20% project besides the last time I got on which was really just deciding what I was going to do. Today I decided what songs I was going to do and I came up with a little list:
I also think that Whistle will be a cool one because it is so well known now that when it gets to the actual whistling part, which is probably going to be the flutes and clarinets due to the fact that they can sound more like a whistle then any other pep band interment, the crowd will join in.
The reason I choose Forget You and Gangnam Style is because I have heard them played in a band and I think that it is pretty cool. Here are the links of the two that I heard:
Gangnam Style: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to8rA9u7i2U
Forget You: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNpF9_TRmeA
The rest I think it would be cool as a pep band arrangement even if it is going to be really hard because of the fact that music now has synthesized crap in it which is near impossible to transpose into a musical instrument. But it is a challenge I will accept.
I also found someone who did quite a bit of Whistle for a band arrangement so that will probably help me a little. Especially since they used Finale which is the program, or a program made by them that is similar to, I am going to use. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61nwMtZkSkU
I also learned how to use Audio Editing software so that I can listen to the songs I want to use and take out the parts that I am going to skip when writing the music because you don't get 3-5 minutes between plays to do a full song. I tried one program which flat out sucked and refused to work, that's what you get from a free program, so I tried another one. This one works a thousand times better but sadly can only save the stuff I make in a ".wav" format so I might have to get a converter for that so I can listen to it on mp3 while trying to divvy up parts for the pep band. But the last program refused to let me cut any of the music and well just kinda sucked in general so having one that will cut stuff, change the speed, and grab the mp3 file of YouTube for me really helps.
Then I got the Finale NotePad that Mr. Matthys advised me to get in his comment on my first post but I found that I can only do a certain amount of parts which doesn't make up a full pep band so I devised a plan! I also downloaded the Free Trial of the Finale PrintMusic which gives me more parts that can play back to me. Now all I have to do is create it on that one and transpher it over to the Finale NotePad so I can still have it when the free trial runs out in a month. Also, once it runs out I can just use Finale SongWriter which is the same as Finale PrintMusic but it doesn't allow as many parts but still enough for the pep band. It is a brilliant plan and it will work. Or I could easily just make another account for Finale and do the free trial for PrintMusic again if it isn't smart enough to catch that all I did was use another account, because I don't really want to pay $$$ for a program I might not use in the future.
So yeah, I only go t to working on one song so far. That would be Forget You by Cee Lo Green. I haven't begun to make it into a band piece but I got it down to what I want the band to play of it. It has a cool part that I think the flutes and clarinets will like along with a cool part for trumpets and trombones. Though I think that the drums might be a bit bored of what I have planed for them with this song, but hey they will really like the We Will Rock You that I have planned out.
Well, that is all I have for now. I might put up another blog soon if I do anything more during the week end, which I probably will if not today. So yeah...that's it folks. Now go off and play on YouTube or Facebook. I know now easy it is to get lost in there and end up spending hours and hours on both.
-Curtis
- Forget You By Cee Lo Green
- We Will Rock You By Queen
- Whistle By Flo Rida
- Some Nights By Fun
- Payphone By Maroon 5
- Gangnam Style By PSY
- Too Close By Alex Clare
- 50 Ways to Say Goodbye By Train
- Good Time By Owl City & Carly Rae Jepsen
I also think that Whistle will be a cool one because it is so well known now that when it gets to the actual whistling part, which is probably going to be the flutes and clarinets due to the fact that they can sound more like a whistle then any other pep band interment, the crowd will join in.
The reason I choose Forget You and Gangnam Style is because I have heard them played in a band and I think that it is pretty cool. Here are the links of the two that I heard:
Gangnam Style: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to8rA9u7i2U
Forget You: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNpF9_TRmeA
The rest I think it would be cool as a pep band arrangement even if it is going to be really hard because of the fact that music now has synthesized crap in it which is near impossible to transpose into a musical instrument. But it is a challenge I will accept.
I also found someone who did quite a bit of Whistle for a band arrangement so that will probably help me a little. Especially since they used Finale which is the program, or a program made by them that is similar to, I am going to use. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61nwMtZkSkU
I also learned how to use Audio Editing software so that I can listen to the songs I want to use and take out the parts that I am going to skip when writing the music because you don't get 3-5 minutes between plays to do a full song. I tried one program which flat out sucked and refused to work, that's what you get from a free program, so I tried another one. This one works a thousand times better but sadly can only save the stuff I make in a ".wav" format so I might have to get a converter for that so I can listen to it on mp3 while trying to divvy up parts for the pep band. But the last program refused to let me cut any of the music and well just kinda sucked in general so having one that will cut stuff, change the speed, and grab the mp3 file of YouTube for me really helps.
Then I got the Finale NotePad that Mr. Matthys advised me to get in his comment on my first post but I found that I can only do a certain amount of parts which doesn't make up a full pep band so I devised a plan! I also downloaded the Free Trial of the Finale PrintMusic which gives me more parts that can play back to me. Now all I have to do is create it on that one and transpher it over to the Finale NotePad so I can still have it when the free trial runs out in a month. Also, once it runs out I can just use Finale SongWriter which is the same as Finale PrintMusic but it doesn't allow as many parts but still enough for the pep band. It is a brilliant plan and it will work. Or I could easily just make another account for Finale and do the free trial for PrintMusic again if it isn't smart enough to catch that all I did was use another account, because I don't really want to pay $$$ for a program I might not use in the future.
So yeah, I only go t to working on one song so far. That would be Forget You by Cee Lo Green. I haven't begun to make it into a band piece but I got it down to what I want the band to play of it. It has a cool part that I think the flutes and clarinets will like along with a cool part for trumpets and trombones. Though I think that the drums might be a bit bored of what I have planed for them with this song, but hey they will really like the We Will Rock You that I have planned out.
Well, that is all I have for now. I might put up another blog soon if I do anything more during the week end, which I probably will if not today. So yeah...that's it folks. Now go off and play on YouTube or Facebook. I know now easy it is to get lost in there and end up spending hours and hours on both.
-Curtis
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Hello There Viewers Nice To Meet You!
Hi everyone who is going to read this blog and follow me throughout my endevers in arranging music for my LOHS band. Today was the first google day and we had to decide what we where going to do for what our teacher, Mr. M, calls the Google Band Project or the 20% Project. Basically it is this, in band we use 20% of our time in band doing a project of our choosing that pertains to music in some way. I had a tough time choosing between doing something with singing, trying to learn the guitar again (I tried once...twice. Never really worked to well.), or doing pep band music. Since I already have a few ideas on a few songs that I want the band to do for pep band I thought that it was my best option, that and I would be too scared to go infront of the class and sing or play the guitar. So, I am doin pep band music. I will keep you updated on all the things I learned about how hard it is to get this stuff right and what songs I am doing well at making, hey I might even post a recording of them if ai can figure out how to. Anyways, there is nothing much else to say. So, hope to keep your interest in my blog for as long as I am working on it.
-Curtis
-Curtis
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