Arrangements
And here's my little rendition.
It's so cool. Many times, when
I search my hard drives for something,
I will find something else other than what I was looking for, but something interesting. I remember constructing this piece by Francoise Couperin on my Mac Plus (1985). That was my first mac com-
puter and it worked all the way through to 2005 or thereabouts. It worked pretty well with MIDI files.
Les Barricades Mystérieuses has a groove to it. Later, when samples of real instruments came out, I reassigned the MIDI from my original tone generators to some real samples. If you want to hear what the piece really sounds like, here are a couple of links
Les Barricades Mystérieuses
Francoise Couperin, 1668 – 1773
(public domain)
Largo from New World Symphony
Antonín Leopold Dvořák, 1841 – 1904
(public domain)
I don't remember the first time I heard Symphony From The New World,
Antonin Dvořák's ninth, but it could well have been when I went on a bus to Daytona, year unknown, where I heard my first live symphony concert. André Previn conducted The London Symphony Orchestra. Also on the bill, was the debut of a young violinist named Itzhak Perlman. I know for sure I heard Stravinsky's Firebird, but I'm not certain about the New World. It's just that thinking about my history with the piece triggered my memory of my bus trip to Daytona. The Largo has been adapted in a few pop songs, and I have a version I did when I was leading worship on Wednesday nights. Here's a link for
one of my favorite artists, Sissel, doing one of those adaptations. I am
posting my MIDI rendering of the
Largo, and the piano accompaniment
minus vocal in the other version.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, 1840 – 1893
(public domain)
Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring
I was thinking about this and searching for a better word. I have arranged some music that I didn't compose, but some here might be better described as renderings, where I painstakingly entered the notes from a score into my music app using MIDI. I then routed the parts to the proper instru-
ment sample, essentially creating a virtual orchestra. Some of them sound a bit rough in places, but they are a good simulation of the real thing. It takes many hours to do, but
it's so interesting to see the piece take shape and come to life.
Volumes have been written about possibly the greatest music-
ian that ever lived, J.S. Bach. I've already quoted him on my Intro page. He wrote what I am acronaming JJOMD. I fell in love with guitarist Christopher Parkening's Bach albums, and this piece especially.
I even learned to play his arrange-
ment of it. He's one of an elite group of classical guitarists who studied under Andrés Segovia (another was John Williams... no, not that John Williams). I really like my rendering
or arrangement of this, seen in my music video, JJOMD. I put a little swing in it, so that's an arrangement. Bach is a favorite for classical/jazz fusions. Do you remember the Swingle Singers?
Johann Sebastian Bach, 1685 – 1750
(public domain)
Nutcracker Suite: Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy
I found this rendering of
Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy
that I did in the mid-80's and
reworked in 1996. The favorite thing about this movement is the instrument he featured, the Celeste, a small keyboard instrument in the percussion section that sounds something like today's electric piano, yet not quite. My sample sounds a little more harsh than I would like, but its a good approxima-
tion of the ones I've heard. He
made the instrument famous with this piece.
He Is Exalted
Twila Paris, 1958 –
(public domain)
I'm not going to say too much
about this. Twila Paris is a
brilliant songwriter and we've
been singing her songs in church for years now. This
song is one of her most pop-
ular worship songs and I always
loved her arrangement. This is
one of the tracks I made for
Wednesday night worship
when I was leading. I listened
to her recording and tried to
mimic all the parts as best as
I could hear them. I played the
acoustic guitar live, so there
isn't one on the track. And,
obviously there is no vocal.
orchestral rendering
piano accompaniment
He Is Exalted, Track by jmt
The best track I've made by ear to date–– certainly one of the most challenging,
is probably Amy Grant/Chris Eaton's
Breath Of Heaven. I've included the
vocal here in case you've never heard Anne-Marie sing. I love the use of synth-
esizers in this arrangement. I believe
Amy's guys used a Fairlight, which is
some million-dollar instrument, unavail-
able to mortals like me. I now have a
virtual one by Arturia, but I can't remember what I had or used when I made the track.
Breath Of Heaven (Mary's Song)
Breath Of Heaven, Track by jmt
Anne-Marie Thomas, vocal
Breath Of Heaven, Track by jmt
instruments only
orchestral rendering
Come Harvest Time
This song is rather obscure. Glenn Campbell did it on an
album we love, Jesus & Me, but the song wasn't a hit or got any notice that I'm aware of. The song has great lyrics and music by Lowell Alexander that perfectly matches them. I loved his arrangement so much I attempted to make a track by ear for Anne-Marie and I to present to the church at Thanksgiving. We did it, but I did a poor job on the vocals, so it fell flat. I was interim worship leader at Fellowship@Tyrone at the time.
Come Harvest Time, Track by jmt
instruments only
Kumbayah
I should be embarrassed to admit that I ever did this song. I don't know who wrote it, and it might be tra-
ditional. Actually, in the 80's, someone paid me to make an accompaniment track and I tried to do something with
it to make it less... less whatever it was. Anyway, please remember when the arrangement gets sparse that there is a melody you're not hearing being sung over it. I actu-
ally like the Keaggyesque feel to it a lot, and I think my Ovation classical sounds convincing. It is what it is, and here it is.
Kumbayah, Track by jmt
instruments only