Jay Sims
Genius Hour Blog
WEEK TWELVE12/16/2018 Hello and welcome to week number 12 of my project! This is my last blog post on this project. I have learned a lot, which I will explain later.
I have completely finished all of my pieces, and I have recorded one part of Untidy Acoustics and 4 parts of Mahler 2. I will present these in my final presentation. WHAT I LEARNED With this project, the biggest thing that I learned was time management. I worked countless hours on the arrangement of Mahler 2 and the writing of Untidy Acoustics. I had to learn to stop procrastinating and get down to business to meet my deadlines so I could finish up things on time. I also learned that I can't do everything at once. Originally, I planned on performing four pieces, on all four different brass instruments. I quickly learned that I would never be able to finish everything and also get my homework done. I cut back on what I was planning on, and I ended up finishing my work on time. Along with these lessons useful in later life, I also learned how to read Alto, Tenor, and Bass clefs. This was incredibly challenging, but also very rewarding because of how useful it will be for me later in life. For many old pieces, trumpets have music written in alto and bass clef all the time, so now I can use this new skill in the outside world. I also learned how to transpose B flat, D, A, A flat, F, E and E flat to C. This was the most difficult process by far. I did not have any idea how to transpose many of these keys before this project, so this was especially useful. In many symphony parts for trumpet, there are parts for D, E flat, F, B flat, A, and many other kinds of trumpets. In the writing of my own piece, I also learned more theory. I learned that tension is both a good tool and a great problem in the process of writing music. It should never be used too much, because unless you are an incredibly skilled composer such as Shostakovich, you will probably just make your piece sound bad if you try to make it sound too edgy. Sometimes, it is better to just write something in minor. In writing Untidy Acoustics, I also learned that you should never overthink one measure of the piece, because it is so small and insignificant in the grand scheme of things. You should never have this outlook if you are focusing on many things at a time, but it is just one measure. You are allowed to have a measure that sounds off to you because there is no right or wrong way to compose music. You must focus and not think. That is how you write the best music. I have enjoyed this musical journey, and I hope that I have inspired someone to try something new.
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WEEK ELEVEN12/9/2018 Hello and welcome to week number eleven of my Genius Hour blog! As it is the second- last week of this project, I would like to recap what I have done and why I did it. First of all, I worked on arranging the finale of Mahler's Second symphony for brass quintet. I chose this piece because it is my favorite piece, and I thought it would be an appropriate length, because the second portion that I had been working on is around thirteen to fifteen minutes, depending on how fast it is conducted. I based my recording and my arranging off of the Leonard Bernstein interpretation, because I believe that if this interpretation was good enough for him, it is definitely good enough for me. Throughout this process, I have improved my transposition, arranging, dictation, and overall musicianship. I had to transpose E flat, F, B flat, and A instruments. I also had to learn how to read Alto, Tenor, and Bass clefs. I did not expect the arranging to take so much time though.
As well as arranging Mahler 2, I also wrote my own piece called "Untidy Acoustics." This name was the result of a random name generator, but I guess that it is an appropriate title, as it is my first real piece that I have written, so it is incredibly imperfect. Even though it is not the greatest piece in the world, my end goal is to inspire others to try writing music as well. I never thought I could be good at it, but with time I am sure that it will improve. If I can show that it is okay to have a "bad piece", then maybe others will see that it is okay to not be good at something right away. I believe that many people do not understand that you must work hard at something in order to truly excel at it. I look foreword to presenting my final project! WEEK TEN12/2/2018 Hello and welcome to week number ten of my genius hour project! I have been working on arranging and composing pieces for brass quintet. For more information on my project, I encourage you to check out my previous blog posts.
Currently, my main focus has been on writing more of Untidy Acoustics. I keep making so many changes to it that I do not even know if I will ever be finished, but I am sure that I will have it done by the time that my presentation is due. I am also working with the Acapella app to record a few segments from Mahler 2. However, upon reviewing my score, I have made a lot of mistakes in my arranging. These mistakes do not come from personal error, but they came from the chord structures in the piece and how they are set up. I tended to make the lower stuff less important, but in reality the low and middle range stuff is the most important part. I also messed up the arranging in a way because there were so many parts, and again I was not including the parts that were more important. I will try to fix this issue by next wednesday so that I am able to record my segments. I also got a new device to record with. It is a Yamaha Silent Brass system, and I think that it is going to help my recording a lot. It works by using a receiver/ microphone that also works as a practice mute. This mute (or microphone) is put into the bell of the trumpet, like a mute. The auxiliary cord plugs into this mute, and the other end of the cord plugs into the system itself. With the make that I have, you have two sound options (You have the choice of making it sound like you are performing in a huge cathedral my absolute FAVORITE!! Or you can choose the sound of a standard practice room. I plan on using the cathedral setting for when I am recording.). After you choose your setting (or before also it does not matter) you can plug in headphones or another auxiliary cord that you can use to listen to yourself with. I plan on using two auxiliary cords, one with input and one with output. The output cord will be connected to my phone, which I will then use to record my segments. I hope that you found this blog post educational, and I hope to see you next week! WEEK NINE11/25/2018 Greetings, and welcome to week number NINE of my "Brass Kicks Serious... Butt" project. I have made a TON of progress within this past week, and I am quite confident that I am going to have a one minute video recorded segment of me playing both of the pieces, and I will record that by using an Acapella app that you are able to download for free on your smartphone. I already have one of the parts recorded, and I plan on recording at least three of the other parts within the next few days.
I have not worked on my original piece too much, but mainly I have been trying to come up with a name. I believe I have found a solution. Right now, as I type this, I am going to pull up a random word generator, and the first two words it lands on will be the title of this piece. AND THE NAME OF THIS PIECE IS........ Untidy Acoustics Not really what I was looking for, but that's okay! Anyways, I am going to have my one minute segment of "Untidy Acoustics" done by December 9. I will present these video segments when I present my genius hour project to the English class(es) once the twelve weeks of this project are over. In this presentation, I will include all the progress I have made with this project. I have made a lot of progress on the writing of Mahler 2 within the past week. I have continued to put the finishing touches on the arrangement, and I have actually been able to play the original piece alongside the arrangement and they sound almost exactly the same! This is a huge relief for me, bacuse in many parts of the piece there are more than five different voices, and I have to figure out which one is the least important. I am going to stray away from the standard brass quintet instrumentation for the end part of the piece. The very end portion is by far the most emotional part of the piece, and at this part, the pipe organ comes in with a major chord. I think that the audience would appreciate the end of the piece more if there was an organ part, so that's what I am going to do. I plan on including the organ part on one of the video segments that I am going to use for my final presentation. Thank you so much for reading, and I hope to see you next week! WEEK EIGHT11/18/2018 Hello and welcome to week number eight of my project! I apologize for updating my blog so late in the week, this was because of a technology issue that I am going to explain more in depth later. In the past week, I have continued to make a lot of progress with both of the works that I am arranging and working on, which are Mahler's 2nd symphony as well as an original piece that I am writing for brass quintet. I have not thought of a name for my original piece yet, but I plan on announcing it in my next blog post. Recently, I have been working more and more on my arranging and my writing. However, my computer decided to glitch right while I was working on both of the pieces. The result of this glitch was me losing around 5 to 7 hours of progress on each piece. I had written an entire movement of my piece, and I had also arranged the last bit of Mahler 2. So, now I am basically back to where I was a week ago. Also, this entire blog post was deleted whenever my computer decide to glitch. I plan to work all through this weekend to get caught back up with my project. I plan to publish my work on musescore when I am finished, and I may be able to make some profit off of it by changing the settings from public access to private access, which I believe costs money. So far, in my catching up, I have put in about three hours of work this week. I have been able to re write a lot of Mahler 2, but unfortunately, due to the fact that the piece only exists in my head, I have to completely redesign my original piece. I plan on redesigning it this week. Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you next week!
WEEK SEVEN11/11/2018 Hello and welcome to week number seven of my genius hour project! If you are new to my project, I encourage you to check out my earlier posts so you are able to catch up on my project.
This past week I have began the recording process of Mahler 2. I am using an acapella app to record all of the parts. Because of time, as well as lack of proper instruments, I will be recording the piece on my Bach Stradivarius C Trumpet (It is the 229 model with a 25A leadpipe). I will use a C trumpet and not the standard B flat because I never really play on my B flat trumpet anymore. I even play my C trumpet in the school's wind ensemble, even though you are not technically supposed to. Its a good way for me to improve my transposing. Also, the music is already in C and I do not feel like transposing. I have also made progress on my original piece. The first movement is in F major. It is set at 144 beats per minute, which is a sort of "vivace" tempo. I have finally decided on this because it is a relatively easy key to write harmonies in, and I have written in this key before. I have just realized that I have never spoken of any of my previous compositions. I actually have one that is published on musescore. If you are interested in viewing it, it is called TRUMPET CHORALE and my username is _giantpeach.jpeg. This composition was written in the key of E flat major, but a lot of it is not even my work. a lot of it was directly transcribed from the works of other composers. My goals for this week are to: - Finish any more work I have to do with Mahler 2 - Continue recording for Mahler 2 - Finish the first movement of my original piece I hope to accomplish these goals and any more I may have that relate to this project. Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you next week! WEEK SIX11/4/2018 Hello and welcome to week number six of my project! In this past seven days, I have continued working on my original piece for brass quintet. I now have around two minutes finished. I am not really following my previous guidelines, because I have come up with better ones. I tend to write an idea, and then I'll end up getting rid of it because I do not like it enough. Because of this, I tend to spend too much time on things that do not end up in the piece.
A few of the changes to the original layout are not too drastic, but a few are. One main change is that the piece is now in an A minor key. I wrote it in because I need more work with A minor composition. Another main change is that the first movement is a lot slower than what I said it would be earlier. This is mostly because I did not want to start with an incredibly fast movement. This past week, I have not done enough arranging of Mahler 2 because I am trying to organize the parts so they are a lot easier for me to arrange. I have ended up organizing the remainder of the second portion of the finale. The last few minutes are my favorite, and it is my goal to finish within the next two weeks. I do not really plan on arranging the first portion for the finale, mostly because it would be too challenging for brass player. Another reason is that it is very repetitive, and I think that seventeen minutes of similar ideas would just be pretty boring, especially because it is a brass band arrangement and its even harder to have variation. Also, it would not be a good use of my time, because it would not really teach me anything. Thank you so much for reading, and I truly hope to see you next week! WEEK FIVE10/28/2018 Hello and welcome to week number five of my project! This week marks blog post six of twelve, which would mean that I am now halfway through this project. I have made a lot of progress so far, and I will strive to make even more progress in this last half of the project. In the first portion, I had no idea how time consuming the arrangement of a symphony can actually be. I have spent well over 50 hours arranging the finale of Mahler's second symphony, but I only have around twelve of the thirty three minutes of the symphony arranged.
In the last blog post of mine, you may recall that instead of arranging three other pieces, I am going to write my own piece for brass quintet. I chose this instrumentation because it is the easiest for me to record. I plan to work on the writing of the piece for a week, then work on the arrangement of Mahler 2 for a week. I believe if I stick to this schedule, I will be able to get everything done in a timely manner. I have already began my work on the piece, and it has been a complicated process, mainly because I have so many ideas, but I am not certain as to how I am going to write all of them into my music. I think that I am going to try and have the piece be around fifteen minutes long, and it will have three movements. The first movement will be kind of tranquil, and it will be around six minutes long. The second movement will be slow, and it will be in a minor key. It will be around four minutes long. The final movement will switch back into a major key, and it will be a sort of scherzo (lighthearted, careless, or joke- like). It is going to be around five minutes long. I am looking forward to seeing how the composition of an original work will help my knowledge of music theory. Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you next week! WEEK FOUR10/21/2018 Hello and welcome to week number four of my project! As you may have remembered me saying last week, I am going to start writing my original piece for brass quintet this week. I have also made a ton of progress in my arrangement of Mahler's second symphony. I have well over half of it done at this point, and I am going to work as hard as i can to finish the second portion this week. As you may remember me saying in earlier posts, I have split the symphony into two parts. They are about equal in length, with the first one at around eighteen minutes, and the second one at around fifteen minutes.
Now that I am over a third of the way done with my project, I should tell you about how I have improved my musicianship by studying this score and arranging it as well. First, I believe that it improved my understanding of the different types of chords that were present in the music at this point in musical history. Second, it improved my ability to read bass, tenor, and alto clef, because a large amount of the music is not in treble clef, which I am definitely the most used to as a trumpet player. Third, It greatly improved my ability to transpose the keys of F, E flat, A, B flat, and also G. This is because a large amount of this piece is written for horn in F, trumpet in F, clarinet in B flat, Clarinet in A, Clarinet in E flat, and many more. I think that so far into my project, writing has gotten easier because I have been able to transpose easier. I have also been able to understand the patterns in the music a lot more, so I know what to expect while I am writing. I am glad that I have chosen this project to complete because it will undoubtedly be the most beneficial to me if I want to pursue a career in music performance. So far, I would encourage another musician to do this project if they genuinely enjoy studying scores and listening to the works of certain composers, and I would encourage them to be very patient, because it is an incredibly slow process, but it is very beneficial if they are dedicated. Thank you very much, and I'll see you next week! WEEK THREE10/14/2018 Hello and welcome to week three of my project! This past week I was able to spend almost an hour every day working on arranging the finale of Mahler's second symphony for brass quintet. I have gotten well over three minutes done just in this week. This is about sixty measures, which is a huge deal for me because that is more than I have ever done in one week. However, I am just about halfway through this project. If I continue working an hour a day, I will be done with just this portion by the end of October. This would mean I have a lot less time to arrange all the other pieces.
Because of the large amount of pieces and such little time, I am going to go through with the idea that I had last week. That idea was to compose an original piece for either brass quintet or orchestra. I think that I will compose the piece for brass quintet, because I would be able to record that more easily. The piece would have three movements, and it would be around 10 minutes long. The piece is going to be a short tone poem style piece. I like this style because it is a lot like an overture, because it is very easy to follow. This would be better than composing a symphonic tone poem because I can play all of the parts for the brass quintet on my trumpet. I will use the standard instrumentation for a brass quintet, which is two trumpets, one french horn, one trombone, and one tuba. However, the two trumpets will be C trumpets instead of B flat trumpets because I like C trumpet more than B flat trumpet, because of its tone, and also one of my most favorite brass quintet (and wind ensemble) pieces uses two C trumpets. In case you would like to look it up, the piece is Shadowcatcher by Eric Ewazen. It is by far my favorite piece for brass quintet because of the way it sounds and how well it follows the program of the piece. It is about Native Americans in the far west, and it is very apparent throughout the entire piece. The composition that I will write is going to have three movements, which are probably going to be fast, slow, and moderate tempos. I have not yet decided what key or time signatures I would like for it to be in, but I have always found music in the 6/4, 3/4, 9/8, and 7/8 time signatures to be quite pleasant. I have also found music in the keys of A flat major, D major, D minor, E flat major, and G major to be very cool to listen to. My goal with this piece is to start brainstorming it for at least fifteen minutes per day until I get done with the arrangement of Mahler 2. After that, I will begin writing it. I think I will be able to finish the full piece within one month. I hope you have a great week, and I hope to see you next week! About the "Brass Kicks Serious.... Butt" projectFor twelve weeks, I am going to be arranging different pieces of classical music for brass quintet, and I will play each individual instrument. When I am ready to, I will record myself playing the piece and will put all the audio together. |