I have friends who are funny, and I am helpless at competing with
them. Still, it's nice to know I can provoke a smile from time to
time. Christopher is a kind and generous guy, and I am grateful for
the "plug".
Chuck
On Jan 16, 2008, at 8:42 AM, Christopher Smith wrote:
Second part, deserving its own thread.
I attended Chuck's presentation on his new book/online guide. It
appears to me that this is a real breakthrough, as it is one of the
only texts that actually appears MORE useful in the online version
than the paper version. You read the text (which has the advantage
of being written by a jazz musician with world-class small-group
experience, rather than by an arranging geek who hasn't played an
instrument since college) and you click on the link to hear the
example played! Not only that, but it isn't ALL the examples that
use tweaked Garritan playback; many of them are live recordings. You
can mess around with the examples and compare. Chuck draws heavily
on examples that use techniques from traditional and modern styles.
It looks excellent. Well done, Chuck!
You can check it out at
http://www.garritan.com/
and it's right at the top of the page.
In the clinic Chuck made some frank observations, such as the
playback is good for judging density and solving questions of form,
but not so good for judging balance, phrasing, etc. He said
synthesized playback was like a loaded gun handed to someone who
doesn't know where to point (I think he may have met my students!)
The moment that deserves wider quotation, however, is this one:
Chuck: "[Synthesized playback] is to music as phone sex is to sex."
(long pause to allow for appreciative laugher to subside.)
"It's better than nothing."
(much longer pause as the room completely cracks up)
"Might save you some time, though..."
(entire conference across two city blocks grinds to a halt while
people collapse in convulsions, run off to change their underwear,
call ambulances to treat hyperventilation cases, etc.)
Christopher
_______________________________________________
Finale mailing list
Finale@shsu.edu
http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
Chuck Israels
230 North Garden Terrace
Bellingham, WA 98225-5836
phone (360) 671-3402
fax (360) 676-6055
www.chuckisraels.com
_______________________________________________
Finale mailing list
Finale@shsu.edu
http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
