Sting - Fields of gold

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This is such a wonderful song! I really love it.

You’ll remember me when the west wind moves
Upon the fields of barley
You’ll forget the sun in his jealous sky
As we walk in fields of gold
So she took her love for to gaze awhile
Upon the fields of barley
In his arms she fell as her hair came down
Among the fields of gold

Will you stay with me, will you be my love
Among the fields of barley?
We’ll forget the sun in his jealous sky
As we lie in fields of gold
See the west wind move like a lover so
Upon the fields of barley
Feel her body rise when you kiss her mouth
Among the fields of gold

I never made promises lightly
And there have been some that I’ve broken
But I swear in the days still left
We’ll walk in fields of gold
We’ll walk in fields of gold

Many years have passed since those summer days
Among the fields of barley
See the children run as the sun goes down
Among the fields of gold
You’ll remember me when the west wind moves
Upon the fields of barley
You can tell the sun in his jealous sky
When we walked in fields of gold
When we walked in fields of gold
When we walked in fields of gold

RIVER DANCE

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Riverdance is a masterpiece from composer Bill Wheelan.

What I find most amazing in this music, is the way it changes time from binary to ternary in a most natural fashion.

It is done in such a way that the listener is dazzled and spin into it.

Of course I don’t forget that it is also a wonderful piece of dancing.

The harmony is so Irish typical,  it is really a voyage into a strong foreign culture, coming from the old ages.

uilleann (Elbow) pipes

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The best Celtic music from Riverdance Caoineadh Cu Chulainn, a Lament played on the uilleann (Elbow) pipes by the famous Davey Spillane.

The is one of the most moving piece of music I’ve ever heard. Truly wonderful!

The sword of Chuculainn was itself the stuff of legend. It’s name was Cruaidin Caidid-Chean or “Hard, Hard-Headed”. It is described in the Leabhar na h-UaChongbhala or “The Book of Ballymote”; “Socht had a beautiful sword, with a hilt of gold, pointed with silver, with a golden suspension (belt), and an ornamented scabbard; it had a sharp point which shone in the night like a candle. If it’s point were bent back to it’s hilt it would become straight again like a dart. It would cut a hair on the water: it would chop off a hair on the head without approaching the skin: it would cleave a man in two, and the two halves of him would not miss the other for some time.”

The battle axe was also used by the ancient Irish, although it was the Vikings that had perfected their use. However, once the Vikings had begun their extended visit to Erinn, the Irish lost no time in learning their new ways with the axe, as the Viking battle-axe, called the Lochlann (foreign) axe and made of iron, was a fearsome weapon. The earlier Irish axes, called “celts”, were constructed of stone, bronze and copper. Of course our hero Chuculainn was well versed in their use and one poem has him, when preparing for a fight, calling to his caddie “Take out the axes, quickly!”, (See Joyce, SHAI, p.118-120). Giraldus Cambrensus, (or Gerald of Wales or Gerald de Barry) 1146-1223, a Geraldine and the historian of the Anglo-Norman invasion during the time of Henry II, who was so often critical of the Irish, says that the Irish were well skilled in the use of the axe. Joyce quotes Cambrensis , “They make use of but one hand to the axe when they strike and extend one thumb along the handle to guide the blow: from which neither the crested helmet can defend the head, nor the iron folds of the armor the rest of the body. From whence it has happened even in our times, that the whole thigh of a soldier, though cased in well-tempered armor, hath been lopped off by a single blow of the axe, the whole limb falling on one side of the horse, and the expiring body on the other.” He goes on to say that “In Giraldus’s time, almost everyone carried an axe in his hand…instead of a walking stick.” Kind of like the old west in America, where every man carried a gun, but without all the noise.

Valery Guergiev

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Valery Guergiev

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Click here to view the embedded video.

Valery Gergiev

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Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

INDOCHINE j’étais en studio avec eux, en 1983 je crois, au studio d’aguesseau. Ce qui m’avait frappé alors c’était à quel point PERSONNE n’y croyait, personne ne s’intéressait à eux. Pourquoi? Parce que techniquement ils étaient nuls, alors on ne les prenait pas au sérieux. Moi je trouvais qu’ils avaient une personnalité énorme et je restais pour les enregistrer quand l’ingé son partait. C’est pourquoi je suis crédité sur “l’aventurier” comme ingé son. J’étais seul avec eux, j’accordais leur guitare, je montrais des positions d’accord sur le manche, je réglais les effets d’écho etc. Je suis bien content d’avoir eu raison. C’est un très bon souvenir, ils étaient vraiment gentils.

CONDUCTING A FILM MUSIC ORCHESTRAL SCORE part four

This is the last of four tutorials about conducting an orchestra for the purpose of recording a music soundtrack.

Tutorial four

The psychological attitude

You’d rather forget about all three first tutorials and remember that one for it is the most important of all.
I’m going to give you a tip that will work like Harry Potter’s wand and give you the very best possible result from any orchestra.
Most people think of a conductor as the great leader facing a herd of musicians. Most musicians work for many conductors, in many studios, playing all kind of music. They don’t know you, they don’t see any particular reason for helping you do your job.

This is why; you will have magical result if you address the orchestra as individual human beings. During the preparation preceding the session, walk the room and ask the name of the soloists. Draw a rough map and place them, like Patrick timpani by the far end left, Frank first trombone far right and so on. When you talk to them, don’t say” I’d like the flute to play softer on bar 28″, instead say: “Mary, could you please try softer on bar 28, what do you think?” Mary will be delighted of your consideration, you know her name and you respect her as a musician by asking her opinion.
Soon you will feel the orchestra take over the score, try to give their very best, because they are involved.
Please do not spoil this saying:” It’s not correct yet, let’s do it again”. Instead say:” That was much better, I think we could go even further!”
I know a national orchestra conducted by this guy who’s a genius musician. After two years he doesn’t know the name of anyone. They just hate him.
So, don’t be like that! Get the orchestra on your side, use the magic wand of human respect and consideration and you’ll get the best sound any orchestra can give you.

ORCHESTRA CONDUCTOR part three

This is the third of four tutorials about conducting an orchestra for the purpose of recording a music soundtrack.

Tutorial three

How to be prepared?

The state of mind is essential and a full tutorial number four will be dedicated to this most important topic.
They are a few conductors around the world capable of mesmerizing every detail of a full score and have a clear vision of how it should sound. If you were one of them you wouldn’t be wasting your time reading me. So this concerns most of us, composers, and advanced level musicians that want to make the best of a recording session as a conductor.
The first obvious step is to know the music as a listener. If you are in the movie business, you had to produce a piano of a sampler version for validation. This can help.
You have to be able to hear right away if there is a mistake in the score or in the musician’s reading. Wrong notes are not the only possible mistakes; it can also be somebody starting too soon or too late.
Memorize the tempo changes, the starts to give, fragment the score into a list of instructions, like dynamics, expected difficulties etc. Why not using colours, your own symbols and anything that could help. If you don’t use a click you also have to point out which cues are mandatory and which one can float a bit.
If you are the composer, you probably finished your score at the very latest minute and the night preceding the recording session will be a very busy one.

CONDUCTING AN ORCHESTRA part two

This is the second of four tutorials about conducting an orchestra for the purpose of recording a music soundtrack.

Tutorial two, the ways to synchronise.

I will not go deep into this subject, because most of you probably know it all already.
If you are working with computers, the easiest way would be to program a tempo click. This is money saving in the studio because you don’t have to display the movie while recording.
They are several flaws to this method. Brutal changes in tempos can be hard to follow, especially with a very big orchestra. It’s easy to miss a beat that you never make up. Second, most musicians should also have the click in their headphone. If there is a big forte, you might lose the click, and if there is a pianissimo the click goes into the microphones.
Last but not least, It prevents all freedom of rubato, if not previously programmed by the computer.
Still, this is a very efficient method for television programs.
A more expensive way of doing it, is to use a time watch and cues on the score. I know some software exist to help you with it, though I never saw anyone use it yet. They are many advantages with this method. First you don’t have to keep a headphone on, which allows you to hear much better what happens in the room. Second, you are free to make tempo adjustments in the studio, provided you compensate the time later. Third, you won’t have a click recorded on the tape that will later ruin your mix.
You must have a much more comfortable budget to use this method, because you must be ready to erase a very good take, just because the timing is wrong.
A wonderful example of this happened when John Williams recorded the magnificent ending of E.T.
He so could not get it synchronised properly that Steven Spielberg told him to record it without sync and later re-edited the movie ending.

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