notionally acoustic


track: 01

recorded: 20140320 - 20140321

duration: 2:10

type: active

with every new app, especially higher-end apps like notion, I like to start out with something relatively simple and straightforward, just to get a feel for the app, how it works, how it sounds, and so on,

so with some difficulty, I avoided the temptation of massed basses, violas, violins, woodwinds, brass and all the other parts of my own private orchestra, and decided to try a piece for two acoustic guitars. so I loaded them in, designated one as rhythm and one as melody - in my head, anyway - and began to score.

I used the point and add note method, rather than the guitar neck - not because there is any fault with the guitar neck, but more because I really, really want to improve my notation skills, and one of the main reasons for acquiring notion is to do just that.

so I thought it best if I start out without using guitar, keyboard or pads, and just notate - and I am very glad of this decision, because, over the course of two weeks and three compositions (one of which is still in progress as I write this) I have learned much that I had forgotten and much that I didn't ever learn.

I can see if I continue on this course, that in a relatively short time (I give it about a year) I will be able to write notation much, much better than I can now, and at the same time, it is my hope that by notating rather than "playing" these pieces, that I can truly understand the nuances of the written language of music well enough to begin to really "sight read" - another skill that I barely acquired, and have mostly lost - I find it very difficult to sight read, and play very, very slowly, only the most basic pieces.

so by the time I retire at 65, I hope to be able to play a simple J.S. Bach score, using sight reading. I hope to do that - not sure I will !

in any case, "notionally acoustic" presented some interesting challenged from the get-go, and I was most pleased that I was able to incorporate both close harmony and a short section of counterpoint, that I was able to use a classic ritard to slow the end section, and that I remembered that all measures should really only have four beats in them, if the time signature is 4/4 :-)

I really like this simple tune, and I also believe that my next challenge should be to attempt to learn to actually play it on a real guitar - now that it's written down, that shouldn't be that difficult.

I sincerely hope you will enjoy "notionally acoustic" - I absolutely loved creating it, and I hope to create more like it in the fullness of time. peaceful, lazy sunday afternoon acoustic music - a good thing, surely.