MacJams

Hey folks,
I just got approved to post on an online musicians' community called MacJams. I'll be putting lots of my music up on there in the next few weeks. Here's the link:
http://www.macjams.com/artist/LonePineMusic
I have a piece up there already, so go check it out and enjoy!
~Brandon

Bach Brandenburg 2 on Melodicas and Recorder

Okay, I wasn't going to post another Bach piece as my second video, but this was done so well, and in such a novel way that I just HAD to share it. I mean, not only does this guy know what he's doing with these instruments, he actually knows the music. Just listen to the control he's got over his dynamics!
It's the first movement of Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 by J. S. Bach for violin, Blockflöte, (recorder) trumpet and oboe. Here's how the instrumentation stands in the video:

Concertino:
Trumpet: Soprano melodica
Alto recorder: Alto recorder
Oboe: Alto melodica
Violin: Alto melodica

Ripieno:
Vln 1, Vln 2, Vla: Alto melodica
Cello and Bass: Bass melodica

(If you're not sure what a melodica is, look them up on Wikipedia, there's a good page of info there.)

"... The winds are now exalted in the Concerto No. 2 in F Major. The solo group is made up of violin, recorder, oboe and trumpet. This is not just an unusual combination, it is unprecedented. Far from tailoring the writing to suit the disparate bunch, Bach treats them virtually as equals. If counterpoint is akin to musical juggling, here the composer is juggling eggs along with a basketball and a running chainsaw. The work is in fact, a bold attempt at a hitherto unknown musical democracy."
-From the liner notes of the 2000 recording by Apollo's Fire.

April Snow!!

You have heard that it was said to the people long ago: 'April showers bring May flowers,' but I tell you that a warm dry March will surely bring snow in April. In other words, March came in like a lamb, went out like a lamb and now, it appears, we're seeing a little of the lion. :-)


I wasn't nearly as cold as I look here. It wasn't even a proper cold. (For all y'all Dixielanders: That's barely cold enough for the white stuff to stick. :-))





At about 10:00 this morning, I snapped these out the back patio door just to show how deep it got. Our old, broken barn looks rather ghostly through the blowing snow.
Of course, at noon, seo sunne came out and the lovely snow melted VERY fast.

Commandments For Concertgoers

Hi, I found these today and thought they were quite funny - as well as representing the way I feel about audience behavior at concerts, especially classical ones. :-)
~Brandon

Commandments for Concert Goers:

I
Thou shalt hearken unto the music with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and all thy mind, to aid thee in thine endeavor. Study thou thy program notes and hereby be sore fully prepared to garner the blessings of the inspired melodies which are about to be sounded.

II
Thou shalt not arrive late, for the stir of thy coming disturbeth those who did come in due season; neither shalt thou rush forth as a great wind at intermission time or before the end of the program; nor shalt thou trample to thy left nor thy right the ushers or the doormen or the multitudes that are about thee.

III
Thou shalt keep in check thy coughings and thy sneezings for they are an abomination, and they shall bring forth evil execrations upon thee and thy household, even unto the third and fourth generations.

IV
Thou shalt not rustle thy program for the noise thereof is not as the murmur of the leaves of the forest but brash and raucous and soothest not.

V
Thou shalt not "yahoo" unto thy relatives, nor to thy friends, nor to any member of thy lodge or of thy household, nor to any of thy neighbors.

VI
Thou shalt not whisper, for thy mouthings, howsoever hushed they may be, bring discord to the ear of those who sit about thee.

VII
Thou shalt not chew gum with great show of sound or motion. Remember that thou art not as the kine of the meadow who do chew the cud in the pastoral serenity which is vouchsafed them.

VIII
Thou shalt not direct thy index finger at persons of public note and say unto thy neighbor, "Yonder goeth so and so," but reflect that some day thou shalt perchance be a celebrity, and thou shalt be in great discomfort when thou art pointed at and thou shalt not be pleased one jot or tittle thereby.

IX
Thou shalt not slumber, for in thy stupor thou hast ears and heareth not; peradventures thou possesseth a rumbling obligato when thou sleepeth, and verily, the rabble may be aroused thereby to do thee grievous harm.

X
Thou shalt not become a self-ordained music critic and with booming voice comment garrulously about the players or the playing; neither shalt thou hum, or tap thy foot; for thou hast come as a listener and a lover of music, not as a critic nor as a performer, and remember that none among the multitudes has paid admission to hear thy hummings or thy tappings or to listen unto thine opinion.

The Best of: You've Been Sentenced!

You've Been Sentenced! has recently become our family's new favorite game ('course, we didn't really have a favorite game before we got it, but it has anyway.) You each take 10 of 540 5-sided cards (each side having a different word on it) and try to assemble a sentence. Because the cards are dealt randomly, you can come up some pretty crazy stuff - concepts that have never been heard of before - or if they have, you get to see them in an entirely new light. :-)

Read more here

I've decided to post the best (funniest) here for you to enjoy. (And and encourage you to get the game, if you don't have it. :-)) These were all created by family and friends (using totally random word-cards) and written down because they made us laugh so much. Also, there are no punctuation cards in the game, so I will attempt to punctuate these as best I can.

"The yucky chicken-like troublemaker, Billy the Kid, will have momentary friends."
"A bullying pyromaniac mistakenly spilled lighted matches in oil. BOOM!"
"Even he, Paul Revere, blew the yucky heat on the cooler."
"Weirdo Greta Garbo jerks her scrambled pets, accenting the 50-yard line."
"Just about midnight, Mom called, meaning she gulped warm jam."
"Turning, Zippy points as a lunching fatty bombs the bathroom."
"My lippy Aunt Judy yucks slowly to her troubled caregiver doctor."
"Marvelous Martin made your nose puffy by blowing weirdly on legs."
"On the ocean, classier laugher Chris Columbus boxes glass figures in the locker."
"Cat Eye showed the smoky worm child pirate-like poisonings."
"The phoenix behind the bags, with eyes on beauty, fumbled Fatso."
"Dr. MLK Jr. has the fanciest, hairiest page of quick, fantasized experiments."
"Top team leader Davy Crockett easily skinned weakened pigs near hot parties."
"Secretive Sarah Barton and most dangerous Mighty Matthews lip-lock momentarily. Yuck!"
"Little alien Fatso bounces on the bench and wets in the locker."
"My! Instead of slowly potting the pond, Leonardo DaVinci draws fancy nurses."
"This hairy hippy throw-out jammed and swung a candle holder."
"Marlon Brando makes cheesy plans and slides out a weak meaning."

Disclaimer: the crudeness of some of these is due only to trying to make use of the random cards.

Mole Anyone?

First off, the Mole is NOT mine. This rather festive-looking gift which was given to Grammy, totally grossing her out (and my cousin who took the picture) is apparently some sort of Mexican condiment. Go figure, it's pronounced: Mo-LAY. I read the ingredients (which were not in Spanish) and no, mole meat is NOT one of them. :D

Merry Christmas! It's OKAY to say it!

Okay, here are some more of the organ pieces-parts. These are not in chronological order. Everything was out of the organ case by the time these were taken, so I don't remember when they should come in order. Sorry.


Electronics sure have shrunk, haven't they? By the way, this is one of the percussion circuits.


A generally dark (and darkly general) view of the Leslie unit.


A look down into the rotor. There is a speaker in there somewhere! :-)


And finally, the motors. Yes, there are two of them here, one for each speed! Slow is on the left, and fast on the right.


The upper manual keys.


This is the upper manual keyer block. (The wires are supposed to be straight.) Horizontally, each wire is a note. Each vertical wire is for a different type of stop. So, when a key was depressed, all the wires in that column got pulled up together against another set of contacts (not shown,) but only the stops whose tabs were engaged would sound. I hope that makes sense...


The back of the upper manual keyer block. The flat tan things are early integrated circuits.


The filter circuits. These are passive (meaning they require no power) high-pass and low-pass filters for shaping the raw signal from the oscillators. Most consist of a coil, a capacitor and a resistor. High- or low-pass is determined by either the resistor or the capacitor being connected to ground. (I don't remember which is which.)


Another view of the filters.


The Oscillator. One of them, anyway. There are twelve altogether. They generate an harmonically rich waveform (probably close to a sawtooth wave) at a given pitch in three octaves. (In this case, the pitch is A.) The remaining two octaves provided by the manuals and the bottom octave of the pedal (16') are produced by the divide-down method* common in organs like this one.


The back of the oscillator circuit board showing (at left) where it was 'plugged in' to another board along with the rest of its brethren.


The oscillator divider boards for the manuals and the pedal divider. *Okay, more about the divide-down method. In this method of tone generation, the 12 oscillators produce the highest chromatic octave available on the organ. The raw signal is then sent to a divider circuit (which basically halves the signal.) This is repeated as many times as needed to produce all the notes. In this organ, the oscillators divide the signal down twice internally, so for these 5-octave manuals, only two more dividers are needed. The pedals require one more division of the signal, but since they are monophonic (playable only one at a time) the required circuitry is (obviously) different.


Upper left cheekblock with stop tabs and related circuitry. The white buttons at the far left are cancels.


Why Thomas made this an internal control rather than an external one is something I don't understand. Note that vibrato is DIFFERENT than Leslie Tremolo. Vibrato actually varies the pitch of the oscillators, while the Leslie system takes advantage of the Doppler effect to produce the warbling. Vibrato is electronic, tremolo is mechanical.


Preamplifier circuits. This is also where some signals are mixed before being sent to the main amp.


The lower left cheekblock with percussion controls, couplers, and another percussion circuit.


The bottom of the same, showing switches and electronics.


The lower right cheekblock with more percussion controls and output controls.


Such names! 'Vibraharp' is sustain for the gray (flute) stops, and 'Hawaiian Guitar' is the sustain for the red (reed) stops. The remaining three tabs control which sounds go to which speakers. The black switch at far right is the Leslie speed control switch.


Leslie motor switching circuit with capacitors on the power supply to keep the amp from popping every time you change speeds.

Organ Part Photos 1

Well folks, here are the pictures. After some thought about how to format this, I decided to arrange these photos in the order in which their subject was removed from the organ case. Speaking of which...

The Disemboweled:

The case, ready for clean-up. (Note the 40+ years' worth of dust.)
The swell (volume) pedal still needs to be taken out.

The inner box (which housed the Leslie system) will also be removed.

Okay, now on to the good stuff... :-)


A look at the back panel shows heavy modifications. :-)



One of the two 12" main speakers (e.g. not Leslie.) It's in pretty good shape for its age.


Here's the amplifier and related wiring. Or, rather, amplifiers, because it's actually in two halves - one for the Leslie channel and one for the Main. It does more than just drive speakers, however. It is also the power supply for the entire organ, and it is in control of vibrato(!) (I'm still confused as to how it does that.) As far as condition goes, the Leslie side (right) is in good working order. The Main has a bad tube and so basically all you get is white noise. I was more than a little surprised to learn (after having already taken it out of the organ) that the transformers in this thing develop up to 390 volts! (Delicate, my foot!) Needless to say, Mother did not take to that concept too well. :-) Thankfully, it's all contained inside.

Here are some close-ups:


A type 12AX7 tube proudly displays the Thomas logo.


Here's a 12AU7 (and its twin on the other side of the line.)


Four 6GK6s standing at attention.


And last but not least, a big ol' 5U4.


A couple of capacitors(!) with thumb for size comparison. :-)

To be continued...

Something Went Wrong...

Something went wrong. I told you this was supposed to be a weekly Baroque music/video blog. Well, that doesn't seem to be working quite the way I intended. My big plans for it have all, like sheep, gone astray. SO, I've decided to turn this into more of a general 'what's up with me' type of blog.

Right now, I'm working on transforming my Thomas VL-3A electronic organ into a 2-manual, 25-pedal MIDI console with which to play some virtual pipe organ computer programs that I have. This involves completely removing the case of all its previous inhabitants so as to make room for the MIDI keyboards and interface. Stay tuned, as I will posting pictures of all the parts and pieces - including a lovely old tube(!) amplifier with a nice, warm overdrive that's great for guitar. :-)

''Gott ist mein König''

Hi! Well, here's my first post! And luckily for me, I didn't have to write any info on it! :)
The text is all from video's page on YouTube. This is a great video of some great music. The musicians are wonderful (you can't beat Germans playing German music, after all,) and the message, which is literally: "God is my king," is timely. In the shadow of a President-elect with a not-so-Godly agenda, it's something we all need to work at remembering. God is on His throne, and those who trust in him need not be afraid.
Enjoy!



And here is the link to the second half...

A recording of the Michaelstein Telemann Chamber Orchestra at St. Mary's Church, Mühlhausen.

1. Chorus [Tutti]:

Gott ist mein König von altersher, der alle Hilfe tut, so auf Erden geschicht.

2. Air [T-S con Corale in Canto]:

Ich bin nun achtzig Jahr, warum soll dein Knecht sich mehr beschweren?
Soll ich auf dieser Welt
Mein Leben höher bringen,
Durch manchen sauren Tritt
Hindurch ins Alter dringen,
Ich will umkehren, dass ich sterbe in meiner Stadt, So gib Geduld, für Sünd
Und Schanden mich bewahr,
Auf dass ich tragen mag
bei meines Vaters und meiner Mutter Grab. Mit Ehren graues Haar.

3. Chorus [Fuga]:

Dein Alter sei wie deine Jugend, und Gott ist mit dir in allem, das du tust.

4. Arioso [B]:

Tag und Nacht ist dein. Du machest, dass beide, Sonn und Gestirn, ihren gewissen Lauf haben. Du setzest einem jeglichen Lande seine Grenze.


In Mühlhausen, Bach worked at the "Divi Blasii" church, but had much better conections to the nearby St. Mary's Church, where the preacher Georg Christian Eilmar was a great admirer of Bach's music. St. Mary's, Thuringia's second biggest church (is a fünfschiffige Hallenkirche), was built at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries and was made famous through the activities of Thomas Müntzer in 1525.

Bach's working life in the Reichs city of Mühlhausen in 1707-08 - brief though it was - yielded important church music compositions. To mark the Council Election he composed this cantata, which was performed in St. Mary's Church on 4th February 1708.

The Telemann Chamber Orchestra was founded in 1952 by Eitelfriedrich Thom. It devotes itself chiefly to performing works by unknown composers of the 16th to 18th centuries in the middle German region. The orchestra uses historical instruments.