YoungMusician.com.au

A classical music blog by Brendan Sinnamon. “Classical music is for everyone!”

Audacity is an open-source program used to record and mix tracks that you have either imported or created yourself. Today I embarked on an interesting journey to see if I could record all four tracks of a trombone quartet and put them together myself. I was successful! The work I recorded: an arrangement of Wagner’s Tannhauser Overture for trombone quartet.

I started by just recording the solo track, then listening to it while I recorded the others. This resulted in some dodgy timing and lack of togetherness (especially with quick triplets and tim-ka rhythms). Regardless, I finished the recording and came up with very amateur-like recording. Displeased with this, I decided to record a metronome and listen to this while I recorded each track. Success! Timing perfect! The only problem with the metronome, was I couldn’t rubato at my discretion, I had to stick to what I heard in order to stay together. Much like a conductor’s role I thought.

Anyway, the only problem I had with Audacity was its small learning curve (half an hour  for basic features), as I couldn’t locate some of the tools I wanted to use, and the situation where it crashes and wipes your data when trying to export to mp3. Giving Audacity it’s due credit though, I was using the unstable beta version and it still was very satisfying and simple to use. The other problem I had was adjusting the microphone gain levels (I am playing trombone loudly after all), and I still ended up with clipping in the final track.

Finally, after some re-recording of tracks I created my finished product. Perhaps if you’re interested I could upload it here for your listening pleasure?

On the ensemble side of things, I certainly learned very much about creating a similar sound amongst parts and making music with no visual aids (no conductor or other group members to help you). I will be recording more like this in the future!

What do you think I should record next? Write a comment to let me know and I might dedicate it to you!

Edit: Added the track.

Wagner Tannhauser Arrangement for Trombone Quartet

This is probably the most important book/criticism I have ever read about Australian politics, culture, art, and thought. Although it centres mainly on the politics of the nation, I was most impressed and interested with what Horne suggests for the future of Australian politics and culture. I was shocked to the core upon completion of the final chapter - almost scared - but yet at the same time, invigorated with a sense of purpose and direction for both myself and my beloved homeland.

Interestingly, I receive an impression from professional orchestral players, student musicians and people who do not listen to classical music, that classical music appreciation is only for the talented, the academic, and the rich. I believe that classical music does not exclusively speak to these slim sociographics, but rather to everybody. Just as English conductor Benjamin Zander’s catch-phrase goes, in which I believe whole-heartedly; Classical music is for everybody.

Trumpets are made of brass. Hence the categorization as a ‘brass instrument’. But what if these instruments were made of other substances? I own and play a plastic mouthpiece for trombone, and it certainly changes the sound from a heavy dark tone (metal mouthpiece) to a lighter, brighter and less resonant sound. What if the entire instrument was made of the same material!?

While researching for my thesis, I come across many different interesting theories originating from the early eighteenth-century onwards. One of the most debated ideas that I come across is the accentuation of metre in music amongst scholars and teachers of the eighteenth and nineteenth-centuries. It seems that during these times, composers and performers were expected to produce accentuations on the first and third beats in duple and common time, (1 2 3 4) and the first and third beats of triple time (1 2 3). This seems entirely natural while being two-legged creatures, as it is easy to see why common and duple times accent on one and three (out of four beats - on every left step while walking for example), and one and three (out of three beats) is accented in triple time (every bound while skipping for example).