Thanks! You can learn a lot by going back to older compositions and arrangements; it can be a little tough when you find significant problems, but it's also a good sign to be able to spot them, since you must've developed in order to do so 🙂
I'm looking at the score of O nata lux by Morten Lauridsen and in the 3rd bar he used piano D5 note in sopranos and in the 4th bar he used mezzo piano G5. Both notes sound clear and delicate. My question is why does it work so good? Is it all about a quality of performers? Thank you
Hey Simon! 🙂 I'm not very familiar with this piece but had a quick listen and look at the score. It's true as you said, that good performers can make this work, and Lauridsen probably would've been familiar with the ability of the singers he was writing for when composing the piece. I'll say that a quiet high G from the sopranos and a quiet high D from the altos means that the performers have to have very good technique to achieve the desired effect, since it's tricky to do this in that part of the voice. If you know for sure that your performers can do it then it's fine to do so, but if you're not sure then it's much safer to write them lower in pitch, or at a louder dynamic. 😉
Hey! Well spotted! It was requested for the arrangement, and I assume that it was indeed due to time constraints, as there were a few guest artists involved and I think the organisers wanted to get as many songs in as possible! 😉
High and quiet is not a good choice...then I wonder how Mozart (or Xüssmeyer maybe?) figured out to let the sopranos sing extremely high notes quietly in Confutatis! Can you please explain how did he managed to do that?
Hey! Mozart did write all the vocal parts for Requiem, as far as I know. 🙂 My advice about avoiding writing high and quiet is for situations where you know that it might cause issues, because you know the singers and what they're good at and not good at, or for situations where you don't know the level of the singers and need to play it safe. I don't know Mozart's process for writing the work, but I imagine he might have known what choir this was to be performed by, and so knew that it would work for them. High and quiet is certainly not impossible, and can be effective when done in the right circumstances, but it can be hard work for the singers and might lead to blend issues. So I generally recommend avoiding it unless you know for certain that the singers can do it 😉
I'm sorry to hear that you're having trouble with the audio! 😮 I've double checked on my end and the audio sounds fine here, on both my computer and phone. Maybe it's a problem with your drivers? I sometimes get bad audio on my Bluetooth headset if it's set to handsfree mode, for instance, and if I have the Boom software enabled while using an audio interface, it'll distort the sound
Only 2000?? One of the best channels on CZcams! I'm glad I made it here
Thank you very much! 😊
Yessss loved the first one of these. Such a great video concept
Thanks! You can learn a lot by going back to older compositions and arrangements; it can be a little tough when you find significant problems, but it's also a good sign to be able to spot them, since you must've developed in order to do so 🙂
This is a super interesting video, Knut, with a lot of remarks that may be useful for arrangers/composers. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks Aurélien; I'm happy to hear that you found it useful! 😀
YES! FIXED. Sorry for the inconvenience!
That's good to hear, and no problem! 😀
Thank you for sharing! As always, with a mile :-)
I'm looking at the score of O nata lux by Morten Lauridsen and in the 3rd bar he used piano D5 note in sopranos and in the 4th bar he used mezzo piano G5. Both notes sound clear and delicate. My question is why does it work so good? Is it all about a quality of performers? Thank you
Hey Simon! 🙂 I'm not very familiar with this piece but had a quick listen and look at the score. It's true as you said, that good performers can make this work, and Lauridsen probably would've been familiar with the ability of the singers he was writing for when composing the piece. I'll say that a quiet high G from the sopranos and a quiet high D from the altos means that the performers have to have very good technique to achieve the desired effect, since it's tricky to do this in that part of the voice. If you know for sure that your performers can do it then it's fine to do so, but if you're not sure then it's much safer to write them lower in pitch, or at a louder dynamic. 😉
@@KnutsMusic Thank you for your reply. This problem bothered me for so long.
What made you decide to stop the San Jacinto arrangement before the climax? Was a time constraint or a stylistic choice?
Hey! Well spotted! It was requested for the arrangement, and I assume that it was indeed due to time constraints, as there were a few guest artists involved and I think the organisers wanted to get as many songs in as possible! 😉
High and quiet is not a good choice...then I wonder how Mozart (or Xüssmeyer maybe?) figured out to let the sopranos sing extremely high notes quietly in Confutatis! Can you please explain how did he managed to do that?
Hey! Mozart did write all the vocal parts for Requiem, as far as I know. 🙂 My advice about avoiding writing high and quiet is for situations where you know that it might cause issues, because you know the singers and what they're good at and not good at, or for situations where you don't know the level of the singers and need to play it safe. I don't know Mozart's process for writing the work, but I imagine he might have known what choir this was to be performed by, and so knew that it would work for them. High and quiet is certainly not impossible, and can be effective when done in the right circumstances, but it can be hard work for the singers and might lead to blend issues. So I generally recommend avoiding it unless you know for certain that the singers can do it 😉
@@KnutsMusic Thanks a lot for your kind answer :) It helped me to understand the main concerns of professional composers!
Do you have the link to the Sugar plum flash mob? Can't find it anywhere
Hey! Here's the link: czcams.com/video/pA6Q3v_kxXM/video.html&ab_channel=TheOfficialPandora
@@KnutsMusic Thanks!
I cant hear you propoerly
i dont know if its the mic of smt but its awful the audio
Audio is working fine for me
I'm sorry to hear that you're having trouble with the audio! 😮 I've double checked on my end and the audio sounds fine here, on both my computer and phone. Maybe it's a problem with your drivers? I sometimes get bad audio on my Bluetooth headset if it's set to handsfree mode, for instance, and if I have the Boom software enabled while using an audio interface, it'll distort the sound