Brandon Nelson
IMAGO DEI
Category: Ideas
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Over the years, I’ve complied a number of sacred Latin texts that I felt were interesting in content, word-sound, or would otherwise be well-adapted to choral settings. I share them with you here. Ab occultis meis munda me, Domine: et ab alienis parce servo tuo. From my secret sins, cleanse me, O Lord: and from…
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The guitar is obviously a very popular instrument, the creative applications of which go well beyond the folk/pop idiom. Here are some general principles and notions for composers who would like to write for the guitar but don’t have much experience with the instrument. -notes sound an octave lower than they are written -the left…
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The voice may be treated as any other timbre in the orchestra, capable of producing colors well beyond the standard sung tones. Here are some ideas for unique timbres vocalists may produce. As always with contemporary methods, there is no standard notation so make your instructions as clear as possible to the performer. -sing approximate…
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Creating a piece of music certainly requires some fantasy and inspiration, but mostly it’s about crafting and implementing a well-thought-out design. The following presents many of the questions composers will have resolved before committing a single note to the blank page. How explicit this process of answering the questions is often depends on the experience…
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As a both a horn player and a composer, I can tell you that the horn is a tremendously versatile instrument capable of producing unique and interesting colors outside of the standard open and stopped tones. Today’s composer should be aware of the wide range of techniques the performer is able to render! As always…
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For composers, a sense of “newness” can often be obtained by digging into the past for raw materials. Felix Mendelssohn, for example, looked back to the Baroque period and, in particular, to the music of J.S. Bach for inspiration. Josquin de Prez, Giovanni da Palestrina, and other composers of the Renaissance frequently used Gregorian chant…
Brandon Nelson 