The Call of the Challenge
- February 10th, 2012
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Originally, I wanted to create something which might be fitting of the Olympics, perhaps in part because I had spent much of my driving time this week listening to John Williams’ Olympics pieces (which have been prominently featured on NBC’s Olympics coverage in the States since the 1980s), so this was initially titled “The Call of the Rings.” As I worked more and more on this piece, however, it felt as if it had a more general appeal, so the title was ultimately changed to “The Call of the Challenge” (although my working files in PrintMusic and in Reaper both retain the original title).
This is a relatively simple piece featuring three trumpets from Garritan Personal Orchestra 4. I have only ever used a single like instrument at a time in my previous compositions – in other words, only 1 trumpet, only 1 harp, etc. – because of the odd workflow I have developed over time to help combat the 24-staff limitation of PrintMusic. This time, however, knowing from the start that the staff limitation would not be an issue, I initially wrote everything as chords (where appropriate) on one staff, then split those chords across three staffs.
Once I assigned a different trumpet player to each staff, that was when I truly realized just how different each player of an instrument in GPO4 can truly be. Yes, they all play the assigned notes, and yes, they all sound similar, yet they also all sound rather distinct from each other. Since I have not performed with other people in nearly twenty years (my performances since then have all been solo piano performances), I had not consciously considered the differences between players of the same instrument, even at the professional level required for the recording of the samples used in GPO4 and similar virtual instruments.
“The Call of the Challenge” is also unique in that it uses absolutely no audio processing in Reaper. The reverb was applied in GPO4 itself while composing in PrintMusic, and was also captured when creating the initial audio files which would later be imported to Reaper. Where Reaper became truly useful was for automating volume/dynamics changes, as I find that I can have much greater and more predictable control over instrument volume/dynamics in Reaper.
While it is still early in the year, I have a strong feeling that “The Call of the Challenge” will be one of my favorite compositions of 2012!
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“Languidity” is really nothing special, just a bit of improvisation beginning with solely the harp and adding an oboe and a flute as the composition progressed. It is a soothing piece, somewhat languid, and probably useful for mediation – or just relaxing in general. The composition stage was completed in less than an hour, with another hour or so spent troubleshooting some MIDI issues. The mixing stage took less than an hour.
