Location (grandparent | parent | this page): RodMer Arts Home Page | Rod's Music | About Rod's Music Website
A collection of my musical compositions (some 30 or so) composed over the last eleven years (after a lifetime doing other things). You can:
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.
Start with the "Rod's Music" page. After a few initial explanations, there is a list of all my compositions. This list comes in 3 flavours (chronological, alphabetical, or by type) and you can switch among the 3 freely as you wish. Clicking on any composition in the list will take you to a page for that piece, containing explanations, program notes, MIDI files, MP3 files, and score packages. Because the MP3 files (although providing much better sound than the embedded MIDI files) take a little while to download, I have provided very brief MP3 excerpts as well. You can listen to these and then decide if you want to download the complete MP3 file or not.
To play the MIDI and MP3 files you will need appropriate software but most likely that is already embedded in your web browser. I don't keep up with the specifics as I once did. On my platform, either Netscape 7.2 or Internet Explorer 5.2 automatically use the QuickTime plugin to play either MIDI files or MP3 files.
For reading the scores (in pdf format) you will need the free Acrobat Reader -- or some other pdf reader.
For decompressing the rtf files of textual comments accompanying the scores, you will need the free Stuffit Expander for Mac or free Stuffit Expander for Windows.
The mp3 files on this site are monaural (simply because stereo would take you twice as long to download). And they are at "high quality" (80 kbps) -- as opposed to merely "good quality" (64 kbps) or, on the other hand, "higher quality" (96 kbps). All this, of course, a trade-off between time and quality. But the 80 kbps monaural files sound OK to my ear.
On my "Rod's Music" page I talk a bit about the comparison of the quick but bad-sounding embedded MIDI files and the slower-to-download but better-sounding MP3 files. Let me add a brief comment here about some of the difficulties of preparing the embedded MIDI files.
When I'm composing, I work with a sequencer (Emagic's "Logic") which allows me to hear my mistakes right away and learn from them. This sequencer draws on three synthesizers/sound-modules (all by Roland):
Of course, I have to balance the volume of these different sounds measure by measure as I am composing -- as well as tweaking the timing a lot to attempt to get an expressive human-performer quality rather than a mechanical music-box sound. When something doesn't sound right in one particular measure, I wrestle with the different components until I get it to sound right (that is, unless, the whole musical structure is moving in a stupid direction and has to be put back on the tracks). At any rate, when I'm finished, I'm reasonably satisfied with the resulting sound -- as played on my computer drawing on the three synthesizers. Of course, it's not the equal of a live performance, but it gives a good idea, hopefully, of what I had in mind. I play the final result through the computer and record it in an extensive sound file (WAV or AIF) that can be used for burning a CD. I then use Apple's iTunes technology to compress the WAV-type sound files into much smaller MP3 files. The MP3 files still sound, to my ear, satisfactory.
Now comes the problem of preparing the embedded MIDI file. Of course, I have used, a type of MIDI file run by my "Logic" program in preparing the sound files just discussed. But for people to be able to play back embedded MIDI files in their web browsers these original MIDI files have to be converted into what are called "General MIDI" files. "General MIDI" is a standard protocol whereby instrument #56 is always a trumpet and instrument #60 is always a French Horn, etc. Whereas I have many trumpets to choose among on my own synthesizers, for General MIDI there is only one. Furthermore that trumpet sound will be generated by software on your web browser when you play it (or by web-browser or plug-in software sometimes in combination with a small sound card in your computer). Needless to say, the small software algorithms (and/or a small sound card) generating the General MIDI sounds on playback cannot be as sophisticated or as realistic as the wave forms generated by three specialized pieces of synthesizer hardware. So already the sound is not going to be as good. But then there is the further problem of balance. Perhaps the trumpet sound generated by the web browser software will be louder or softer than the trumpet I had used in my "Logic" file. So I will have to adjust the volume to restore the balance. But I can't do this measure by measure. I have to do a few readjustments, and then play the whole embedded MIDI file back with my browser and see how it behaves -- and then make further adjustments. Obviously this is not as good as getting the balance right measure by measure (as I did on the original "Logic" file). Worst of all, I can't know what sort of software you'll be using when you play back the embedded MIDI file at your end. On my computer (whether using Netscape 7.2 or Internet Explorer 5.2) my browsers use the Quicktime PlugIn for generating the MIDI sounds. But you may use something else on your computer. And, if so, what was balanced on mine, may turn out to be unbalanced on yours (because your trumpet is louder or softer or shriller or whatever). So, at best, the embedded MIDI file which you can play back immediately on your browser is likely to be far inferior to the MP3 file I created with my original 3 synthesizers.
Of course, all balancing problems disappear when one is recording a live performance (or rather, it's the conductor's job to achieve the right balance with the live musicians). But with a live performance (as in the Oriana Singers performing my choral piece "The Darkened Voice") there can be no MIDI file anyway -- so the MP3 file is the only thing you then have.
Well, I hope this gives you some idea of the issues surrounding MIDI and MP3 files -- and why it's usually worth taking the time to download the superior MP3 files.
All the downloadable (or immediately playable) stuff on this site is free (I need the exposure (;-) ), but I retain copyright.
Yeah, well it's not a household name. What can I say?
I was born in Toronto, graduated from the University of Toronto in Chemistry, and spent the next 28 years passing myself off as a chartered accountant with Clarkson Gordon (now Ernst & Young), latterly as managing partner of their Toronto office. In 1983 I left that profession to spend full time writing poetry, short stories, reviews, opera libretti, and, since 1994, composing music. Some people just can't decide what to do.
My sole volume of poetry to date, Sky Falling Sunny Tomorrow , was published by Wolsak and Wynn in 1989. My three-act opera libretto Mario and the Magician (composed by Harry Somers) was performed by the Canadian Opera Company at the Elgin Theatre in Toronto in 1992.
I live with Merike in a farmhouse outside Cobourg, where we serve as caretakers and dooropeners for the owners: two successful dogs (Mady and Laijka) and three cats (Kiisu, Cleo, and Bravo).
For more detailed info (if you must), see my CV.
Yup. This website is only my stuff -- shameless self-promotion, I know, but, hey, we're not publishers. However, you can find some pointers to other music sites on my Links page.
Well, yes, that's a good argument. I'm a newbie at this composing business -- only been at it 11 years. And newbies, as you know, are always hungry for exposure. So -- you may freely download any of the MP3, MIDI, Score, and Program Note files on this site -- but I retain copyright to them. Enjoy
This website of my music is part of a larger website of RodMer Arts organized by Rod Anderson and Merike Lugus. Other sections of the RodMer website include the Merike Lugus Art Gallery on the Web (paintings and sculptures by Merike), the RodMer Poetry Room (poetry by Rod and Merike), the
But I must warn you, that that a couple of parts of the RodMer Arts website are badly out of date (the Merike Lugus Art Gallery on the Web and the SwallowHill personal site). I hope to get them updated soon.