Eclipse

FREE DOWNLOAD: https://pumpyoursound.com/f/pys/gamandellogate/90306

This song is inspired by what I remember of my early 80's as a kid.

FREE DOWNLOAD

[Electronic] - 1984 [FREE DOWNLOAD]

(c) 2000
Guitar, Programming, composition,  mixing, producing and mastering by Robert Grigg

TechNo Taco

Original composition.... Alejandro Gonzalez M.

Casus Belli

Eating Variations
for Baritone Voice and Chamber Quintet (Baritone Voice,  Flute, B-flat Clarinet, Violin, Cello, Percussion)
Duration: 9' 
Text by Ron Singer
Performers: American Modern Ensemble; Robert Gardner, Baritone
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1109
Online Perusal Score: https://issuu.com/robertpaterson/docs/eating_variations-fs-bound_perusal
For More Information: https://robertpaterson.com/eating-variations

PROGRAM NOTES
Eating Variations is based on a series of witty poems with the same title by Ron Singer. The work as a whole is essentially a satire on food faddism and depicts different aspects of eating. The way I chose to set these poems is light-hearted, perhaps lighter in spirit than Singer originally intended, but with a serious, dark side.

The first movement, My Body, a Temple, incorporates the sounds of Tibetan Singing Bowls (also called Temple Bowls or Cup Gongs) and is loosely, harmonically inspired by Khöömei, or Tuvan Throat Singing and David Hykes’s Harmonic Choir recordings; both of whom use a style in which the singer produces overtones on top of the fundamental notes. Perhaps mercifully, I do not require the baritone to use this technique, but instead, use the flute to produce false overtones in a couple of spots.

In the second movement, The Hog, the instruments mimic pig sounds with scratchy, grunting noises from the violin and cello and clarinet multiphonics. A round-sounding whole-tone scale is used and there is a Polka-like accompaniment in the percussion.

The third movement, Even the Dyspeptic Must Eat, uses upward and downward runs in the bass clarinet to impart a roller coaster-like sense of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease, a condition in which there is recurrent return of stomach contents back up the esophagus. This is reinforced with a slow, background groove in the drums.

The cello part in the fourth movement, The Dietary Moralist, is inspired by Dave Eggar, a cellist who can play his instrument like a guitar and sing at the same time. In this movement, I ask the cellist to play in a somewhat folksy style and sing out of tune back-up vocals—to me, reminiscent of a 1960s musical Hippie Sit-in. The main vocalist is backed by the well meaning but out of tune "band." To paraphrase an interesting email exchange with Singer, we agreed that in this context, the vocalist might represent a contemporary version of a certain species of 60's hippie—say, a particularly zealous fair trade coffee purveyor, and that this Malvolio type is singing along with a group of kindred spirits. This movement is not a literal portrayal of the text, which is quite serious in tone, and stretches the meaning more than the other movements. Perhaps my interpretation may instead be viewed more as commentary on the text.

In each passing decade, people are sure of their eating habits, and the carefree, assured, commercial America of the 1950s was no different. In the last movement, The Happy Medium, I envision a father-like doctor figure squarely explaining to a patient how to eat. The perky background music is meant to evoke a 1950s TV commercial, or perhaps a short, black and white educational grade school film.

Winter Songs

Eating Variations - III. Even The Dyspeptic Music Eat

Sonata for Bassoon and Piano
Duration: ca. 15'
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=103_137&products_id=1302
For More Information: https://robertpaterson.com/sonata-for-bassoon-and-piano

PROGRAM NOTES (SHORT VERSION FOR PROGRAMS) 
When I first began to plan this sonata for bassoon and piano, I had no idea that I would be inspired by something so overtly programmatic, let alone by an American, historical figure who was alive well before I was born. I knew that the premiere would take place at the Thomas Edison Inn in Port Huron, Michigan, and my curiosity eventually took hold and I started reading up on Thomas Edison’s inventions and his life. I was immediately hooked: many of his experiences and beliefs resonated with me. I could not stop thinking about him or his inventions and they ended up providing a Romantic and technical inspiration for this piece.

The first movement, Edison’s Ears, is inspired by a legendary story about the ear problems Edison suffered from throughout his childhood in Port Huron. According to this tale, when he was 15, a train accident further injured his ears. When he tried to jump on the moving train, the conductor grabbed him by his ears to help pull him up. The young Edison said he felt something snap inside his head, and he soon began to lose much of his hearing. The thought of something “snapping inside his head” made me think how, as morbid as this is, inventing something musical from this story might have humored him. The middle of the movement reaches its peak with a loud, staccato “snapping” chord. The beginning of this movement sounds somewhat mechanical and is the first of three locomotive sections (based on three musical quotes) that progressively increase in tempo. The end of the movement gradually descends in register and dies away, much like a hyper-speed, fast-forward toward his eventual and inevitable hearing loss.

The second movement, Mina’s Tapping, draws its inspiration from a story about Edison’s second wife, Mina Miller. The story goes that they were introduced to each other by his life-long friend Ezra Gilliland: “Their courtship ended when Edison tapped out a proposal for marriage on Mina’s hand. In their many years together the pair communicated via Morse code. When attending meetings or at gatherings with friends, Mina would tap out the discussions in Morse code on her deaf husband’s hand. Despite his long hours away from home, Thomas and Mina were totally devoted to each other and profoundly in love.” In this movement, Edison is represented by long melodic lines; Mina is represented by heartbeat-like, pulsed chords derived from the dots, dashes and spaces of Morse code.

Edison is also responsible for creating a revolutionary business model, the world’s first “invention factory.” The final movement,Invention Factory Eureka, is inspired by this, and the one invention that is said to have been Edison’s only true “Eureka!” invention, the cylinder phonograph. The opening motivic material in this movement is derived from the word “Eureka!” The many bright ‘dings’ throughout the middle of the movement represent the cliché of a light bulb appearing above someone’s head when they have a bright idea. This image ties in nicely to Edison, his inventions and his one “eureka” moment.

Cornucopia

Sonata for Bassoon and Piano - III. Invention Factory Eureka

1.19.04 STEP OUT THE BOX UKE

A music representation of a feeling of despair. 
--
Photo by Dmitry Schemelev on Unsplash

Despair

Despair – Ambient & Cinematic Music

“A Welcome Ghost” 

This room, empty now, 
But not before, there was much more, 

Silence now, without a sound, 
It Used to sing, more than anything, 

years have gone, and so have you, 
This place takes on a different hue, 

These memories they haunt it’s true, 
But a welcome ghost of what I knew, 

A welcome ghost of what I knew, X3
These memories I keep of you, 

This tree, where I would sit, 
Deep in thought, at all life brought, 

You found me there, and I am still, 
But new limbs have grown, since last you’ve shown, 

Years have gone, and so have you, 
The leaves they bloom a different hue, 

These memories they haunt it’s true
But a welcome ghost of what I knew, 

A welcome ghost of what I knew, x3
These memories I keep of you, 

This river, still it flows, 
And ships float on, down currents strong, 

Behind the trees, along the bank, 
The gold sun set, And I won’t forget, 

Years have gone, and so have you, 
And the sky It burns a different hue, 

These memories they haunt it’s true, 
But a welcome ghost of what I knew, 

These memories I keep of you.

A Welcome Ghost

I wanted to create the sound of an old western standoff. Ennio Morricone was the best at this during the Spaghetti Western era. This was my take of a standoff with a system you realize is wrong and needs to change. I tried to capture that standoff feeling using my guitar and a 3 way split harmony on the chorus. Hope you enjoy. 

“Stand-off” 

There comes a time you realize, 
The truths you’re taught are someone else’s lies, 

Those you thought were the ones to follow, 
Are nothing more than puppets, fake and hollow, 

But you worked so hard, you spent so long, 
Do you keep down this road knowing that it’s wrong? 

Or With this new truth you’ve seen, 
Do you change course to alter the machine? 

Stand off x3
Stand off with the false regime 

In that time you realize, 
You will not live for someone else’s lies, 

Those who one time praised your name, 
become the first to shower you in blame, 

You called them out, you said they’re wrong, 
Now the puppet master’s anger rages strong, 

And with Every new punch that they throw,  
You plant new seeds of change and pray they grow

Pray they grow x3

Standoff

American composer Robert Paterson is a true New Yorker—born and bred in Buffalo, he lived in Rochester and Ithaca for over ten years, in New York City for over twenty years, and now lives in Saratoga Springs, near the Adirondacks. Paterson’s colorful music embraces a wide variety of themes, everything from goddesses and online dating to mathematics and the environment. His music is filled with emotion and fierce rhythmic energy, marked by elegance, wit, and meticulous craftsmanship. Named Composer of The Year by the Classical Recording Foundation at Carnegie Hall, Paterson is the winner of the Alfred I. DuPont Award, and his opera Three Way won the Grammy® under Best Classical Producer of the Year. His music is often a Best of the Year pick on National Public Radio. His orchestral tone poem, Dark Mountains, regularly airs on NPR’s Performance Today. Three Way premiered with Nashville Opera, then BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music), and across the United States. Minnesota Orchestra, Louisville Orchestra, The Oratorio Society of New York, Buffalo Philharmonic, Albany Pro Musica, Albany Symphony, Musica Sacra, Austin Symphony, Vermont Symphony, and ensembles worldwide perform his works. Paterson gives masterclasses at the Curtis Institute of Music, New York University, the Aspen Music Festival, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and more. He is the Artistic Director and house composer for Mostly Modern Projects. Robert is a lifelong vegan and advocates for animals and the environment, celebrating the natural world with ground-breaking works such as his Triple Concerto, A New Eaarth, Listen, and I Go Among Trees.

Eating Variations - III. Even The Dyspeptic Music Eat

Robert Paterson Composer