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The gift of music
For my 'big' winter holiday present this year, I got a Yamaha PSR-275 midi keyboard. I knew about this present beforehand. Honestly, I helped Stacey pick it out and then she just hid it under Peggy's bed about two months ago 'n' I couldn't play with it until winter holiday. (We celebrated Solstice because it's more our thing, plus I drove Peggy to the airport this morning to visit her family)
Anyhow... I don't know how to play the keyboard, but I'm learning now. i've been practicing a couple hours a night. This keyboard has a MIDI plug and I can connect it to my Mac. A little more practice and I'll get around to opening up Garage Band and seeing if I can make noises that actually sound like something.
I've been thinking a lot about cartoons and it seems to me that one of the major things missing from a lot of modern cartoons is the kind of music that Stalling did for all the old Warner Brothers cartoons. I play flute, guitar, recorder, drums, ocarina, and a few other instruments already but a keyboard will allow me to get a whole collection of voices and mix them together in time to create my own personal orchestra (in theory at any rate)
I must say the quality of keyboard audio has improved dramatically in the past 10 years. I've been playing in a standard piano voice but the sound is really beautiful It makes even a rank hack like me sound really amazingly good. The notes are nice and rounded to the touch. For the $129 it cost, I'm really impressed. My brother's keyboard purchased in 1990 cost over $2000 and the sound quality was barely comparable.
Anyhow... I don't know how to play the keyboard, but I'm learning now. i've been practicing a couple hours a night. This keyboard has a MIDI plug and I can connect it to my Mac. A little more practice and I'll get around to opening up Garage Band and seeing if I can make noises that actually sound like something.
I've been thinking a lot about cartoons and it seems to me that one of the major things missing from a lot of modern cartoons is the kind of music that Stalling did for all the old Warner Brothers cartoons. I play flute, guitar, recorder, drums, ocarina, and a few other instruments already but a keyboard will allow me to get a whole collection of voices and mix them together in time to create my own personal orchestra (in theory at any rate)
I must say the quality of keyboard audio has improved dramatically in the past 10 years. I've been playing in a standard piano voice but the sound is really beautiful It makes even a rank hack like me sound really amazingly good. The notes are nice and rounded to the touch. For the $129 it cost, I'm really impressed. My brother's keyboard purchased in 1990 cost over $2000 and the sound quality was barely comparable.
Uhhh... Happy Solistice?
(Anonymous) 2004-12-25 06:16 pm (UTC)(link)Yours,
Artist
no subject
As for cartoon music, ask Peggy to let you see the book I got her for Christmas last year.
Regarding cartoon music, and why 'they don't make it like they used to...' it's cause it takes too fecking long to do it by yourself, with all those turn-on-a-dime meter, tempo, and chordal changes... The little orchestras the studios employed were packed with musical chopmeisters, and the cartoon composers, esp. Carl Stalling, were total underappreciated musical gods. Nobody these days comprehends just how difficult it is to score like that. I remember about a year ago there was a South Park where they tried to do about 6 minutes of 'real' cartoon scoring. It was AWFUL...