RE: The Atheist Forums Playlist
December 13, 2012 at 9:23 pm
(This post was last modified: December 13, 2012 at 9:25 pm by Tea Earl Grey Hot.)
This is a recording of me from last week. I'm playing the harpsichord providing an improvised accompaniment to a small college orchestra. There are three movements. In the third movement, I changed the stops on the harpsichord to make it sound like a lute. The performance went fairly good considering most of the students in it are amateurs. There were some slight timing issues in the first movement because the students haven't had very much experience in over-dotting.
The notation I'm reading is called figured bass. I'm given the same line as the cellos plus numbers that tell me the harmonies I have to improvise. It sounds simple but it's actually very complicated and takes a lot of practice and concentration. What I have to make up has to be fairly strict in accordance with the rules of counterpoint. I have to worry about doubling chords properly, preparing and resolving dissonances correctly, and avoiding parallel perfect intervals. Plus I have to be expressive on the harpsichord by matching the dynamics of the orchestra by increasing or reducing the number of notes I strike. The harpsichord isn't a dynamic instrument like a piano. I can't hit a note harder or softer to change the dynamics. The dynamics are always the same no matter what. So to make the harpsichord seem louder or softer, I play more or fewer notes. For loud spots I play chords with 4 to 8 notes and for soft spot I play 2 to 4 notes.
http://f.cl.ly/items/0M34252o3H3L0U0I0q43/1-Handel.m4a
This is a page of what I was reading (the violin part I ignore, I just concentrate on the bass):
![[Image: 7Lwkp.png]](https://images.weserv.nl/?url=i.imgur.com%2F7Lwkp.png)
The notation I'm reading is called figured bass. I'm given the same line as the cellos plus numbers that tell me the harmonies I have to improvise. It sounds simple but it's actually very complicated and takes a lot of practice and concentration. What I have to make up has to be fairly strict in accordance with the rules of counterpoint. I have to worry about doubling chords properly, preparing and resolving dissonances correctly, and avoiding parallel perfect intervals. Plus I have to be expressive on the harpsichord by matching the dynamics of the orchestra by increasing or reducing the number of notes I strike. The harpsichord isn't a dynamic instrument like a piano. I can't hit a note harder or softer to change the dynamics. The dynamics are always the same no matter what. So to make the harpsichord seem louder or softer, I play more or fewer notes. For loud spots I play chords with 4 to 8 notes and for soft spot I play 2 to 4 notes.
http://f.cl.ly/items/0M34252o3H3L0U0I0q43/1-Handel.m4a
This is a page of what I was reading (the violin part I ignore, I just concentrate on the bass):
My ignore list
"The lord doesn't work in mysterious ways, but in ways that are indistinguishable from his nonexistence."
-- George Yorgo Veenhuyzen quoted by John W. Loftus in The End of Christianity (p. 103).
"The lord doesn't work in mysterious ways, but in ways that are indistinguishable from his nonexistence."
-- George Yorgo Veenhuyzen quoted by John W. Loftus in The End of Christianity (p. 103).
