A String of Pearls Duet

[rrayner]

As often happens when revisiting a score, I found some things that I didn't like. This is a cosmetic change and does not affect the printed music, however, if you are playing the duet along with Notation Composer playing the other voice, there is a subtle difference. You can accept this statement and just play the changes like Composer does. However, if you would like to know more about what I've done under the covers, read on.

Playing Swing Music is not a strict interpretation of written notes. Unlike classical music where note durations are supposed to be played as written, Swing Music interpretation involves a lot of bending of time and duration values. This arrangement was originally written in Swing Rhythm with quarter/eighth note triplets; then converted (retranscribed) to Swing notation, i.e., the swing triplets look like ordinary eighth notes. The Swing interpretation is left up to the player, and Composer will play them with a Swing feel. In this arrangement and similar ones, you see and read eighth notes but you and Composer play the notes with the Swing eighth note triplet feel.

Now, the reason for this new upload -- usually Swing players will "fatten" eighth notes at the end of a phrase. If you write something in Swing Rhythm, your notation would be a quarter note and an eighth note with the triplet bracket. If you look at this notation under Piano Roll, you will see that the quarter note has a duration of 309 ticks and the eighth note has a duration of 153 ticks. This will work fine within a phrase, and will be a close approximation of what a live player would do. However, the final eighth note of a phrase will sound chopped off compared to what live Swing players would play, so I have "fattened" the end-of-phrase eighth notes in this arrangement. If you look at the first measure using Piano Roll, you will see that the duration of the second note of each pair has a duration of 203 ticks instead of 153 ticks. The resulting sound when Composer plays this is much more like what a live Swing player would do.

This, of course, is just an approximation. Live Swing players would bend durations all up and down the arrangement to suit the feel of the piece. But, these changes allow Composer to sound a little more like a real player.

I hope this is helpful to any aspiring Swing writers out there.

Ralph Rayner

[Sherry C]

Hi Ralph,

I for one really appreciate your notes and such on your scores, and how notation should be interpreted in different circumstances. Some of this stuff I've known academically (in my head), but am constantly learning pragmatically (in my swing band). Your bringing the two aspects together like this in a file that can be played with and seen is very helpful!

ttfn,

Sherry