by Terry 11 Replies latest jw friends
James Bond composer John Barry turned 77 the other day.
In honor of his birthday I decided to compose a tribute to his wonderfully evocative music for the early Bond films.
This is an original composition that uses the style and thematic vamps which make the Bond films so enjoyable.
A Walk Down Bond Street
Awesome piece, Terry!
Makes me want to pop in one of the Bond movies from my collection....
Great piece! Expecting a bond villain to pop out any minute now!
I wish these Digital Audio Workstations existed back when I was in my teens.
I didn't even have an actual piano when I started teaching myself how to play.
You'd laugh if you saw what I had to learn on. It was an octave and a half Magnus chord organ with plastic keys!
Technology has come a long way, baby.
Thanks.
Hey, I had one of those Magnus Chord Organs when I was a kid! That's how I learned keyboard too (at least the treble side...).
Wonderful Terry Loved it.
Thanks!
I learned what a "chord" was from the Magnus organ. I'd push a button marked Bflat and try to pick out which individual notes made that chord (Bb,D, F)
It had major and minor chords only.
That was enough of a start.
I remember the first time I sat down at a piano (in Prison, no less!) and saw alllllllllllll those OTHER keys available. Total overwhelm! What the hell am I supposed to do with all that???
My first breakthrough was looking at the sheet music for Live and Let Die and seeing that Paul McCartney spread his left hand chord out.
Instead of just a block chord (Bb,D,F) all placed at once.....He played them out in separate notes. Also, he changed the order of the notes.(Called an inversion). Bb, F and D on top made a very interesting and useful sound.
I started a prison "orchestra" (just three players, actually) with trumpet, trombone and myself on a knee-bellows organ:)
I'd take the Kingdom Songbook and figure out the chords from the piano notes. Eventually, one of the guitar player brothers brought in rhythm accompaniment.
One of the guys made me a baton so I could conduct, too:)
Arranging those Kingdom Songs for such an unlikely group of instruments gave me a glimpse of possibility.
When synthesizers became affordable around 1984/85 I bought one and the rest, as they say, is history.
Bravo, Terry! I liked this piece very much - what a great tribute to John Barry and the music that makes up Bond. You totally captured the essence.
That's so cool that you taught yourself how to play. Me, too. I still noodle around on my old beater acoustic piano but also have an 88-key Korg Triton Workstation (it's nice to put on the head-set sometimes, so I don't disturb the neighbors in my apartment complex - I'm sure they greatly appreciate it.)
Gee, now I feel like sitting down & playing a tune or two. Thanks for the inspiration! I hope to hear more originals from you...
The Korg Triton has sampling capability just like the Yamaha Motif ES.
I've never actually sampled anything yet. The manual is thick and I'm daunted by it!
It would be fun to get creative with that.
As it is, when I'm finished composing I Sample/Resample and save to a wave file and then convert to MP3 and post it on Dropbox.
That's the full extent of my expertise. There is a whole wide world of creativity I haven't tapped I know little/nothing about.
Give it a whirl. It is a satisfying hobby.
