Name: Miserlou - Mike Curtis by Peter Anthony Smith
Duration: 3 min 8 s
Description: A recording of 'Miserlou', a traditional Klezmer tune arranged for two clarinets by Mike Curtis. Recorded from a recital by Peter Anthony Smith and Sue Newsome on the 12th of July, 2013, as part of the Australasian Clarinet and Saxophone Conference taking place at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

A recording of 'Miserlou', a traditional Klezmer tune arranged for two clarinets by Mike Curtis. Recorded from a recital by Peter Anthony Smith and Sue Newsome on the 12th of July, 2013, as part of the Australasian Clarinet and Saxophone Conference taking place at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Miserlou - Mike Curtis

This is my submission for Pixel Mixer's Contest on May 2017, for the "Dance" theme.

My huge thank you to all the amazing musicians that helped make this happen:
_ CapnCrockett/Joe Davey (Banjo & Washtub Bass): http://breakersyardmusic.com/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC07ryF1-DQKtq9ST78kAEQw
_ Videogames33k (Trumpet & Trombone): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_qy9iIpjdfhsXskjejCxEg
_ TylerNJazz (Trumpet): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCD8Ef938xRUKt1QdVoq_X5g
_ TheMusicalGamer (Piano): https://soundcloud.com/musicofthemillenia
https://www.youtube.com/user/pianojammer
_ Me (Horrible Sounding Tenor Sax & Drums)

Coudn't have done it without you guys!

Athletic Theme

Athletic Theme - Yoshi's Island (Dixieland Style Cover)

Day 3 of the composition challenge, and I'm already falling behind. 
Ended up practicing and recording for a special something...
Soooo better late than never? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Anyway, honestly despite recording in F Major all day, I've just had a Bb pentatonic scale stuck in my head and decided to toy with the tonal center/idea of it. I also listened to some Fossil Echo since that was a game I played violin for (composed by the wonderful John Robert Matz), and I guess I felt like writing music that reminded me of overcoming the struggles of life. Insert another shrug emoji here.

Also intentionally threw in some heavy delay on the pizz samples.

This is part of a daily challenge called The 21-Day Composition Challenge! This will temporarily take precedent over Tunesday. There's also a Quest Log/Checklist that covers certain styles or parameters (for our consideration, to break out of our comfort zone, etc).

For those of you who are participating, here is the quest I knocked out today!

Quest Log 2
• Pizz Off - Write an entire piece for strings, using the pizzicato technique for every instrument throughout the entire piece. No bowing or sustained notes!

(omg, I was soooo tempted to record actual violin over it and sustained notes... I can see why this was listed as a challenge now)

The Climb

Day 15 and I am sleepy + running out of ideas (and still on the laptop). I guess this track ends the story of our friend lost in space...  

Didn't really have a chance to figure out what to properly compose, so I picked a challenge at random and went at it with as much willpower as I had left for now.

The one I ended up picking was "Drum Machine: Write an entire piece using ONLY unpitched percussion instruments (that means no xylophones, pianos, etc)" 

...and for the most part, it was all practically unpitched enough (except for the occasional anvils and plinka plunkas).

Think of this one in the setting of a sacrificial ritual... that's all I have to add. Goodnight x)

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This is part of a daily challenge called The 21-Day Composition Challenge! This will temporarily take precedent over Tunesday. There's also a Quest Log/Checklist that covers certain styles or parameters (for our consideration, to break out of our comfort zone, etc).

For those of you who are participating, here is the quest I knocked out today!

Quest Log 2
• Drum Machine

I've been captured by aliens, their ritual is to sacrifice me to their gods

Day 17 is here, and I finally gave into the chiptune quest... took me long enough! 

I wanted to make this catchy and loopable, so I made the overall tune in 13/8 and a sort of generic JRPG battle theme. At some point, it briefly goes in 14/8 and noodles around, but then it gets back into the main tune. Anyway, I had a good time making today's tune despite being garbage at writing chiptune. It felt refreshing... and that's just about all I want to say about this one. Enjoy!

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This is part of a daily challenge called The 21-Day Composition Challenge! This will temporarily take precedent over Tunesday. There's also a Quest Log/Checklist that covers certain styles or parameters (for our consideration, to break out of our comfort zone, etc).

For those of you who are participating, here is the quest I knocked out today!

Quest Log 1
• Kickin' it Old School

"Here they are! Stand your ground!"

Day 18 of this whole shebang, and I'm writing a tune for a sleazy sleuth, aka a scumbag detective, meeting up with a mysterious person for something? Either way, if I ever write music for a detective, I'll be sure to make it sound even sleazier with muted trumpets and even more blues and all that good stuff.

Phew, just a few days left... 

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This is part of a daily challenge called The 21-Day Composition Challenge! This will temporarily take precedent over Tunesday. There's also a Quest Log/Checklist that covers certain styles or parameters (for our consideration, to break out of our comfort zone, etc).

For those of you who are participating, here are the quests I knocked out today!

Quest Log 1
• If It Ain't Got That Swing

Quest Log 2
• Something Blue

Quest 3
• Super-Secret Meeting

The Sleazy Sleuth

Day 19 and I got sick, hooray.
Not much to say except that I whipped out the Otamatone and wrote a cute little pseudo-classical tune in D Major. I've been attached to that key lately, huh.

Anyway, here's my Otama bab doing its thang.

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This is part of a daily challenge called The 21-Day Composition Challenge! This will temporarily take precedent over Tunesday. There's also a Quest Log/Checklist that covers certain styles or parameters (for our consideration, to break out of our comfort zone, etc).

For those of you who are participating, here are the quests I knocked out today!

Quest Log 1
• Something Strange & Wonderful (aka the Otamatone, duh)

Quest Log 4
• Let the Love In

An Otamatone love song can cure my illnesses

"The epic concerto is a wonderful exploration of the contrabass's colours, bringing to life this myth in both dizzying detail and ambitious scope." -Angus McPherson, Limelight Magazine

Score and parts now available from the Australian Music Centre: https://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/workversion/lam-cameron-yggdrasil-the-world-tree/33610

Performed by Sydney Conservatorium of Music Wind Symphony, Sue Newsome (contrabass clarinet), John Lynch (conductor)
Recorded by David Kim-Boyle for the Sydney Conservatorium of Music
Music Composed by Cameron Lam
Yggdrasil Cover Art by Luke Moseley

Program Notes:
Yggdrasil was born in the void, between world worlds of fire and ice…
This concerto based on Norse myth of Yggdrasil, the World Tree, which connects the nine worlds of Norse cosmology. It plays host to many of the great myths of this culture such as the hanging of Odin and Loki’s betrayal of the Frost giants. Here though, I’ve chosen to look at things on a larger scale – the creation and destruction (Ragnarok) of the worlds with which Yggdrasil is tied.

The work splits the ensemble into three parts Yggdrasil (our contrabass clarinet soloist), Fire: the primordial world of Chaos (woodwinds) and Ice: the primordial world of Stasis (brass). Through combinations of these elements we see the stories of Yggdrasil unfold; the birth of the giant Ash tree Yggdrasil, Rattatosk the squirrel running up and down its trunk spreading nasty rumours the eagle who lives in the canopy and the serpent who lives at the roots, the ancient Norns (fates) tending to the Well of Destiny from which Yggdrasil’s roots drink. These stories culminate in the ultimate cataclysm, Ragnarok literally “Twillight of the Gods”, and Yggdrasil’s rebirth from the ashes of that destruction, marking the beginning of a new world.

The stories of Yggdrasil have echoes throughout array of modern fantasy literature from Dungeons & Dragon to The Alchemyst series by Michael Scott to the Marvel Universe (Thor).

This is the first Australian concerto for contrabass clarinet and wind symphony, and as best as my research can tell the first one worldwide. It is the fifth in a series of clarinet-based works written for Susan Newsome and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, all about trees. Other entries in Jacaranda for bass clarinet duo and piano, and Eucalyptus: Genetic Dances for clarinet quartet. The series is called Arboretum.

Yggdrasil is currently being recomposed for contrabass clarinet and symphony orchestra (another world first I believe) in anticipation of 2018 Orchestral premiere.

Score available soon from www.kammerklang.com

Yggdrasil: The World Tree [Live] (Contrabass Clarinet Concerto)

Night in the woods Soundtrack Composed by Alec Holowka
Arrangement by the Miltonador

Night in The Woods

Night in The Woods - Die Anywhere Else (Atmospheric Orchestral)

Johto Legends is a cinematic, orchestral recreation of the soundtracks to the Game Boy classics Pokémon Gold and Pokémon Silver, coming January 2018.

Miserlou - Mike Curtis

Peter Anthony Smith

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