The results of today’s little discovery! I’ve spent most of the summer writing a new composition for men’s acapella ensemble. It’s part of a campus wide series of scholarly presentations on the transmission of The Lord’s Prayer into English. Some people are presenting papers, the art department is presenting two shows (one juried, one curated), and the school of music commissioned new works by a handful of composers, to be performed during the school year.
This is about 50% of the piece I’ve been writing. The focus of both the text and the music is on The Lord’s Prayer as an apocalyptic prayer, a call for the immanent arrival of the Kingdom of God. I wanted to capture an epic film kind of sound with the piece, to match that idea.
My throat feels like it’s going to fall off. I’ve got some kind of swollen gland or something back there, and I can barely swallow. Spending 6 hours tracking extreme-range vocal parts probably wasn’t the best way to soothe that …
Enjoy! I’ll post more as I get a chance to complete it.
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michael lee 8:21 pm on 5 August 2008 Permalink
Phil keeps telling me that this piece is basically unsingable. Well, take that, Phil! I just sang it.
sharolyn 8:27 pm on 5 August 2008 Permalink
I was wondering how you were able to book Take 6 for this gig.
michael lee 8:43 pm on 5 August 2008 Permalink
Wow – so, autotune went a little nuts in between me listening back, and the final bounce. Some of those notes definitely shouldn’t be drifting like that. I’ll try to upload a better version tomorrow.
Stick 10:14 pm on 5 August 2008 Permalink
It actually reminds a little more of Glad’s A capella projects than Take 6… though, your harmony is far cooler than Glad ever got. Great stuff. You are going to need a very good choir or vocal jazz group to pull it off.
michael lee 10:23 pm on 5 August 2008 Permalink
If only there were a school with literally hundreds of awesome choral singers wandering around, looking for a challenge, and an entire choral faculty basically stolen from USC.
Hmmm. Where, oh where, can we find such a place?
Scott 10:38 pm on 5 August 2008 Permalink
Stick, I was thinking the exact same thing! The tone and texture are much like Glad (you know, that weird tonal thing that happens when you double your own voice so many times). But also, as you said, definitely some more interesting harmonies.
Maybe I should finish my MC arrangement, now that I think about it…
Mandy 11:56 pm on 5 August 2008 Permalink
I love the harmonies, but it does seem really hard to sing – but I’m not a singer.
Sidenote – I used the Kyrie Yeshua loop for Logic Project 1 last year, and I just realized that was you singing it after listening to this. I always wondered where that loop was from…
Alex 12:48 am on 6 August 2008 Permalink
Scott… finish it. You should finish it. :)
Chad 9:44 am on 6 August 2008 Permalink
Oooh that’s a hip suspension resolution at 1:10.
michael lee 9:55 am on 6 August 2008 Permalink
Thanks. You can check the ink on it here:
michael lee 9:57 am on 6 August 2008 Permalink
top two staves are written in 8va treble clef, by the way. Just for you super sight readers who just threw a fit. Everything else in bass clef.
Daniel Semsen 6:37 am on 7 August 2008 Permalink
That’s phat.
I want to SEE IT ALL!!
Later, maybe??
Chad 7:41 am on 7 August 2008 Permalink
Oh yeah Mikey… don’t be such a tease. Show us the whole thing. Ooooh yeah, gimme more of those minor 11 chords….
YES! YES! YES!
michael lee 9:33 am on 7 August 2008 Permalink
Y’all are dirty.
Chad 10:35 am on 7 August 2008 Permalink
I just really, really like minor 11 chords.
Gretchen 11:21 am on 8 August 2008 Permalink
I like it. It’s nice to hear it now, instead of Mike trying to explain to me what he’s writing. :) Looking forward to the other half.
Our Father, Vindicate (update) | Addison Road 1:56 am on 9 August 2008 Permalink
[...] is identical to the previous demo, up to the 2:00 mark. After that, a whole new section completed today, a Kyrie plopped right in the [...]
Our Father, Vindicate This! | Addison Road 11:53 pm on 22 April 2009 Permalink
[...] on a choral piece based on the text of The Lord’s Prayer. I posted some early examples here and here. In November, I thought it was finished. Then, I did a composer workshop where actual [...]