Music Arranging for the Music Box
By Jack Perron
Re "Music Arranged for Mechanical Instruments," in Digest 970216, Robbie commented:
>[ Tell us your thoughts, Jack; would an audience in a concert hall
>[ react differently than an audience of one? If the arranger was
>[ informed that his work would be performed in concert, what would
>[ he do differently?
Hi, Robbie. Okay, I'll take a stab at it. But, remember, we're talking about "art" here, so everything is subjective.
First to mind is the use of dynamics (in regard to both tempo and volume). I feel that dramatic changes, such as ending crescendos, might work better for large audiences. Also, endings that slow down, might seem tedious after a while for the single listener.
(I might be confusing two considerations here: there is first the _size_ of the audience, then there is also the _turnover_ of the audience. The larger music boxes -- the coin-operated ones come to mind -- are generally not listened to over and over by the same persons, while a small, jewelry movement would be listened to many times by the same person).
Also, with the single listener, there is less likely to be ambient noise around, so that would allow for 'thinner, more delicate' obbligato grace lines. I find that, with the larger disc machines, I usually need to double (in octaves or fifths, most often) the grace lines so that they can be heard in balance by a large group.
There are probably a lot more specific techniques I could mention, but I'm probably already boring your readers, so I'll just end with what I think is a pretty good analogy: Think of a speaker delivering a speech to a large group. (Or, a television announcer or news anchor-person.) Now, imagine how strange it would seem if that person came into your living room, sat down with you on your sofa, and began speaking to you with that same delivery and tone of voice!
Best,
Jack Perron
[ Hmmm. I think I understand what you're saying, Jack, and it's a
[ bit different than I'd expected. Thanks for responding, and let's
[ see what others say now. My thoughts will come later. -- Robbie |
(Message sent Thu 20 Feb 1997, 21:40:54 GMT, from time zone GMT-0800.) |
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