269 and 270. another double blog: long week and short service

Hey, I finally found my other USB cable, so we're back in business with the recorder. New material soon I hope. Sorry for the irregularity of these blogs lately; blame it on laziness? Yep, I would.

"long week" - samples recovered from the recorder, including pianos abandoned in houses we looked at while house-hunting



"short service" - old tamborine samples, mostly

268. unexpected wetness

More old samples. The recorder and computer still aren't friends anymore. But as a something extra, here's a video of Marcus Kim performing a piece I wrote at the latest ELCO show. Which was a great show, by the way. Someone actually threw up from the awesomeness of it all.

Marcus performing "White Shell Tactics", in which all sounds are made by moving objects from one area to another.

267. who's in the next room?

Yep, still can't find a USB cord to get my recorder and computer talking again. But I will, soon. And oh, won't the blog just fill the air then. You'll see.

266. spaceship house

Who wants to live in a tiny square box? Good question. Not me.

265. lace-making for the single guy

More dug-out old samples, these chopped down with a signal sifter making them very old-school FM-tone sounding at times. Patterns eventually emerge....

264. bacon is delicious and good for you

Yep, got up at 5:00 to do the blog. Got sidetracked by the sudden realization that the parts I made for the piece I recently finished needed re-editing immediately. Four hours later, here is a very abstract tribute to my other grandmother-in-law's breakfasts, which are always very...hearty.

262 and 263. make-up blog again: "disordered cosmos" and "safety"

So I've hit a severe rough patch with the blog. (Actually, the last several months have been challenging.) Currently I'm in Danville, IL, staying with my grandmother-in-law while my husband and I try to find a house in nearby Champaign, to which we are moving in about a month and a half. House-hunting is exhausting, such that I don't have the energy to deal with the blog; I don't have my vast array of instruments here, either; but most of all, my computer and hand-held recorder are no longer speaking to each other, so I haven't been able to get the few samples I've made of late off of my recorder. Current blogs are recycled from old samples until things can be fixed.

I've lost track of how far behind I am (one blog or two); I will try to get caught up after we get back to Pittsburgh.

"disordered cosmos"




"safety"

261. nothing says lovin'

One of the most ill-conceived blogs; using only beeps from my grandmother-in-law's oven, I tried to make a little bunch of tunes. Reminds me of the tuner-themed blogs. I apologize for its shortness, unless you think it's actually too long.

260. airless rooms

A short study in dynamics and envelopes, very ambient.

259. hands of blue

For you bassophiles out there, something to counterbalance all the tiny high instruments of late.

258. small collections

This blog tends to be high-pitch heavy, and one good reason for that is that found objects in people's homes tend to be small, high-pitched items. In this case, featured is my grandmother-in-law's bell collection and music box ("Theme from 'Love Story'"). She does have a piano so tomorrow's blog might be more "real" composing. Maybe.

257. fish squeaking

All sounds from a small rubber fish bath toy found in my in-laws' house.

256. blocking it out

STATIC*********************************

255. austere birdhouse

Lots of people like to charge money for special effects samples on the web (like instruments and explosions and electronic effects), but bird calls are amply available for free. Yeah this here is some ducks and robins and things. Sometimes like all electronicified. The cat likes it a lot.

254. extensive note-taking

Ol' files of pen clicking. I will soon be free from part-making and get back to some interesting blogging. (Not that I'm admitting that any music I ever produce isn't absolutely fascinating.)

252 and 253. convenience/persistence (another two-for-one post)

So both Blogger and I have been having some problems getting it all together and working these days...I've been locked out of my account for the last 24 hours or so. Here's another two-for-one post, one from yesterday and one from the day before. They're okay for quickie blogs.

251. in praise of tinyness

Old percussion samples, like giant tuning fork, glockenspiel, and cymbal.

250. robot language

Marcus has a neat collection of musical metal pipes, which he let me play around with.

249. cold speculum

Bent old cello samples. I know, it's late again. I know, I'm short a blog and will have to make it up later. I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW.

248. special friends

Flutey fluteness. Apologies for the lateness again. More blog later.

247. warm triangles

Hoov and Aaron and me messing around with cello, ocarina and shakuhachi.

246. musicX chunk #4

The MusicX piece cometh together, chunk by chunk.

245. into the magic sphere

More glockness. You can't tell I'm happy to have the glockenspiel back, right? Thought not.

243 and 244. rock out with your glock out (plus make-up blog!)

So! Loyal fans, you probably noticed that after making it 2/3rds of the way around the calendar, I finally missed a blog yesterday. That's right. I'm as shocked and dismayed as you are. All I can say is that I've overloaded myself. So, to make up for it (and to celebrate the eight-month mark), it's a two-for-one blog today!

Track 1: "late entry"
Bits of people noodling around and talking during a break at Alia Musica Pittsburgh rehearsal tonight. (Come to the May 14th show, by the way.)



Track 2: "Rock out with your Glock out"
I've wanted to do some sort of heavy rock track with glockenspiel for a while now. Hey, glockenspiels are literally metal. Anyway, this is a fun one - guitar, glockenspiel, and some gritty drumming.

242. music11 sketch 3

In its MIDI gloriousness, here's another chunk of the piece that's consuming my life this week.