Week 4: Complete // Apr 12th
Welcome to Week 4 of the Composition Challenge! 
Today's show will be the final didactic livestream of the series! Next week, we will reconvene to enjoy each other's music in the final watch party.
Click here to access the show!
In this livestream, I will not only walk you through all the steps of writing a short piece from beginning to end - I will also be composing in front of you, in real time!
Use this thread to submit the pieces you've been working on and any updates about your process.
See you in the stream!
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I would like to say thank you to Tonebase and Ashley (Ash) for running this composition challenge, it was a lot of fun and I enjoyed it a lot. I also want to thank all the fellow composers and guitarists, it's awesome to see all the ideas and discussions running here. Last week has been very busy for me and I was not in a mental state to complete my assignment, so there is two sketches for this week. My goal with this challenge was to compose, score, record and film one sketch for each of the four weeks and I think I finally was able to completed the cycle!
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Brooke thank you
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Blaise Laflamme Dear Blaise. I have made an arrangement of your wonderful piece. I think it is more readable - please correct me if I am wrong.
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Philip thanks for taking time for this, for sure it's easier to read! It could potentially mislead the bass melody vs the rythmic part if you don't have the audio as a reference, but I suspect anyone familiar with guitar idioms will figure it out quickly. And by chance you corrected out a typo for natural E vs mine still flat in the second mesure.
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Well if you're hungry, I finally finished my variations on On Top of Spaghetti. I found taking a break from it for several days helpful for overcoming my block. It's playable, but some of it is pretty challenging for me. If I am able, I will try to record myself giving it go on the guitar. For now, you get the cheesy (pun intended) MIDI piano. I also apologize for the messy score. I simply didn't feel like taking the time to clean it up. (At least I didn't spill any spaghetti sauce on it!)
Just curious - is this a song that people outside of the United States know?
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Eric
Wow! That is really nice. It has some very sophisticated chromatic harmonies. You are very good at developing melodies. Something I am not. Well done. Reminds me of La La Land (I really liked the movie and music).
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Eric very nice Eric, I would definitely like to hear that on the guitar. Spagh was my meal tonight, what a coincidence! But to answer your question, no I never heard that song before :(
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Eric thank you so much for finding a place in your heart to finish this piece! I think you did the right thing by taking a break. I've found that helps with many things, including my playing. that sixteenth note variation is very "noodly" if i must say so myself ;) HA! Great job!
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Eric Greast job! And I've never heard the piece
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Eric Hi Eric - Wonderful - love all the jazz harmonies. Yes I'm familiar with it, although I didn't know what it was called before
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Eric I´d never heard it till last week. Your variations sound great!
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Eric it is beautiful, with a jazzy feeling, beautiful for a movie! I never heard the original, please record it!!
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Eric Here is a video of me playing it. I obviously need to practice it a lot more.
The original song would be just be harmonized with I-IV-V chords, but for some reason, I decided to harmonize it with some jazzy, chromatically descending chords. Not sure why - it's not like I'm a jazz musician. It's a song typically sung loudly by children in an effort to annoy their parents.
Since many do not know the song, here are the inspired lyrics to the first two verses:
On top of spaghetti
All covered with cheese
I lost my poor meatball
When somebody sneezed
It rolled off the table
And on to the floor
And then my poor meatball
Rolled right out the door
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Eric Sorry here's the video. Accidentally hit "reply" before I attached it!
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Eric Really good piece! And definitely sounds better a lot with natural guitar sond! Congratulations!
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Eric thank you for the interpretation, so much better than the midi piano! You have a great sound and musicality, thanks for sharing this
And no worries, I did two takes for my sketches and took the least worst
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Eric funny words of this song!
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Eric Good to know there are other boomers in this group. Are you from the Midwest?
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Norman Hi Norman. I'm not from the Midwest, but Rochester, NY. Never thought of myself as a boomer, but why not? I was born in '69, does that count?
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Eric no. You weren’t born when that song was first on the radio. I think Raffi did the song. Did you hear it from him
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Norman I had no idea it was a ever a song on the radio. I’ve never heard of Raffi. I just know it as a ubiquitous song from my youth, at places like Cub Scout camp. My kids know it too, and they were born this century. I kinda thought it was a song every American knows, like Row Row Row Your Boat.
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Eric Really sweet and charming variations, its got an innocence to it. Lovely
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Eric yay! it's even better in real life :) also thanks for the honorary title of "fearless leader"
great work as usual! -
Norman, Eric - Sorry guys, but I completely don't know what you are talking about
Who is the "boomer"?
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Marek Tabisz a boomer is someone born during the baby boom that followed WWII. So figure 1945-55
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Norman Thank you!
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
