Location (grandparent | parent | this page): RodMer Arts Home Page | Rod's Music | Song No. 1 for Merike Program Notes

If you've already read the program notes immediately below, or want to skip them for now, you can click --> to be taken immediately to the MP3 and MIDI files.

Table of Contents (TOC) of these Program Notes

• The Basics
  • Parts
  • Duration
  • Composition date
  • First performance
  • Second performance
  • Third performance
  • Computer performers (when human ones are absent)
  
  
• Structure notes
  
• MP3 and MIDI files
  
• Score package
  

The Basics

Parts

Duration

Composition date

This piece was composed in 2001, when my wife, Merike, began to take singing lessons and discovered that she had a great soprano voice. (You won't, however, hear her on these music files, which are simply the synthesizer 'singing' the MIDI file.)

First performance

The first performance (Merike singing and me accompanying on the piano) took place on Sunday, June 9, 2001 at a recital in Newcastle for the singing students of Nancy Chisling (her initial teacher).

Second performances

A second performance (again Merike singing and me accompanying on the piano) took place at a house concert on February 1, 2003 here at SwallowHill.

Third performances

A third performance (again Merike singing and me accompanying on the piano) took place at another house concert on February 28, 2004 here at SwallowHill.

Computer performers (when human ones are absent)

Like all the MIDI files here, it is in General MIDI form. The General MIDI patches (on the 0-127 numbering system) are:

	Part	General MIDI patch
		name	#
	Soprano	Choir Aahs	52
	Piano	GM Grand Piano	0

How they sound will depend on your own playback software.

On my own synth I used the following patches:

	Part	Sound Module	Patch
			name	#
	Soprano	Roland JV880	Full Choir from Roland Sound Library Card "Rich Sound Collection 3" (RS)	71
	Piano	Roland RD500	Gr Piano A1	0

These are what you hear on the mp3 files.

Structure notes

The song (in A minor) is wordless (using the human voice more as a pure instrument) and it is up to the performer to decide on the vocal style -- but Merike had fun with it.

There is a principal theme (occurring three times) and a sub theme (occurring twice in between).

MP3 and MIDI files
(Click on icons below to play MIDI and/or download MP3 files)

Year	Title ... Instrumentation ...... Excerpts	Min: Sec	Complete MP3 files (better sound)** file size	MP3 file extracts (better sound)** file size	Complete MIDI file (not as good sound but quick)**
	The complete piece:
2001	Song No. 1 for Merike ... wordless song for soprano, with piano accompaniment	2:08	1.2 MB
	How the MIDI file sounds depends, of course, on your playback mechanism. On my computer, MIDI files are played by the QuickTime PlugIn and the voice really doesn't sound very voice-like and the piano is a little thin. In comparison, the mp3 file (recorded from my sound-module patches) sounds better, though not perfect. Of course, if you have a synthesizer, you can download the MIDI file and set the instruments to your own preferred patches -- but that's more work than downloading the complete mp3 file.
	Short excerpts:
	...... beginning (including piano intro)	0:20		0.2 MB
	The piano during the intro is mellower on this mp3 file than on the embedded MIDI file and the voice is considerable better (also aided by the fact that it's a wordless song anyway).
	...... ending	0:38		0.4 MB
	This mp3 excerpt of the ending again offers a mellower piano timbre and a better voice quality than the typical browser playback of the embedded MIDI file.

** If you have a high-speed connection, forget about the MIDI files and just use the MP3 files (better). If you have a dial-up connection, consider the faster (but not as good) MIDI file only if the MP3 files seem to be taking too long to play or download.

Back to Top

---

Score Package
(Click on icons below to download pdf and rtf files)

Year	Title ... Instrumentation	Description	No. of score pages	Score (pdf file) file size	No. of text pages	Text (rtf file) file size
2001	Song No. 1 for Merike ... wordless song for soprano, with piano accompaniment	Complete score *	7	0.2 MB	2	40 KB
	* email me if you would like any part extractions

(you will need the free Stuffit Expander for decompressing the rtf.sitx files)
Back to Top

---

http://www.rodmer.com/RodMusic/ProgramNotes/Song1MerNotes.html -- Revised Jul 28, 2005
Copyright © 2004-2005 Rod Anderson
rod@rodmer.com

---

[ About | What's New | Rod's Music | RodMer Home | Links | Help ]