Len Boorman
Back in gainfull employme
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I once played the triangle in a school concert
Never made it to the concert. Apparently I was off key ????.
L
Musical inclinations
- Thread starter Galaxiom
- Start date
Never made it to the concert. Apparently I was off key ????.
L
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During my college days I played organ at a night club, maybe for about four years. We are talking full console, with 2 x 61-note keyboards and a 25-node pedal board. I also can play accordion and trumpet, but organ is my instrument.
Once I played a spinet organ as a member of the stage band when Sonny and Cher came to New Orleans on a concert tour. Maybe Fall of 1966. I've played live on TV and done a few fashion shows, but nothing recently.
At the cast party after the Sonny and Cher concert, I happened to talk to Charley Rich, a country-western singer billed as "the Silver Fox." He advised me about life on the road. I later had a similar chat after a concert by a gentleman named Eddie Baxter, who worked for the Lowrey Organ Co. Their comments, made independently and separated by many months, convinced me that I didn't want a career in music. That is when I turned to college for a "day job" education.
In 2005, I lost my home instrument to Hurricane Katrina. Look up Jim Harris on YouTube to see a Technics SX-F5 and hear it in action. I had the F3, only very slightly smaller but the same technology. I don't play any more. I have a single studio keyboard for practicing but my heart isn't in it.
Once I played a spinet organ as a member of the stage band when Sonny and Cher came to New Orleans on a concert tour. Maybe Fall of 1966. I've played live on TV and done a few fashion shows, but nothing recently.
At the cast party after the Sonny and Cher concert, I happened to talk to Charley Rich, a country-western singer billed as "the Silver Fox." He advised me about life on the road. I later had a similar chat after a concert by a gentleman named Eddie Baxter, who worked for the Lowrey Organ Co. Their comments, made independently and separated by many months, convinced me that I didn't want a career in music. That is when I turned to college for a "day job" education.
In 2005, I lost my home instrument to Hurricane Katrina. Look up Jim Harris on YouTube to see a Technics SX-F5 and hear it in action. I had the F3, only very slightly smaller but the same technology. I don't play any more. I have a single studio keyboard for practicing but my heart isn't in it.
boblarson
Smeghead
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When I was growing up, music was my thing (since computers didn't exist, well personal computers that is, at that time). So, I started by learning the Cornet (short version of the trumpet) and then moved on to the Trombone in Middle School. I also started learning guitar in Middle School. Then in High School, our band needed a Baritone player for the 1812 Overture so I got to play Baritone for that and then I moved on to play Tuba (Sousaphone actually) for our High School Basketball pep band. And then later still I started playing electric bass a bit since I knew guitar. I moved in my last year in high school to a new city and there I was playing trombone in concert band, double bass in orchestra, and electric and standup bass for jazz band. When I got out of high school and went to junior college I started learning the Alto Sax, but I had to move again before I got too far.
I then just primarily played guitar, bass, keyboards (had a bit of lessons on piano in junior college) for a band some friends and I were in. I did start playing the drums a bit as a fill-in for a guy who was our regular drummer at church.
Now, I've sold all of my instruments and have settled back into just listening to music. I used to write some and I did some arranging in college (I'll have to post a link to my arrangement of Styx's Blue Collar Man which always got us a standing ovation when we played it in concert). I just have to upload the file to my website and then post the link.
So, I'm more into computers and other things. I run the audio board (two linked 32 track Mackie boards) at church for the video recordings and run camera and direct (we have 3 television grade cameras).
I then just primarily played guitar, bass, keyboards (had a bit of lessons on piano in junior college) for a band some friends and I were in. I did start playing the drums a bit as a fill-in for a guy who was our regular drummer at church.
Now, I've sold all of my instruments and have settled back into just listening to music. I used to write some and I did some arranging in college (I'll have to post a link to my arrangement of Styx's Blue Collar Man which always got us a standing ovation when we played it in concert). I just have to upload the file to my website and then post the link.
So, I'm more into computers and other things. I run the audio board (two linked 32 track Mackie boards) at church for the video recordings and run camera and direct (we have 3 television grade cameras).
boblarson
Smeghead
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I am not really interested in playing anymore. The only thing I would like to play now is drums but can't afford to get a set (and really need a set of electronic drums so I don't irritate the neighbors or my family).
boblarson
Smeghead
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Here it is. I am playing trombone and this was our spring concert in March 1980. The synth solo I love, especially the ending part. I wish that I had Finale back then as I had to hand score every single part. Now, I could do it all on computer with the program Finale. Would have made it so much easier.
Originally Posted by GalaxiomAtHome 
....It is done by pumping energy into the high frequency components of the other sounds in the same way a phase locked loop works in electrical signals. If you were to hear this kind of backing in isolation it would sound quite strange.
I don't have audio examples but a couple of concepts might help.
All sounds are made of fundamental resonances and a series of harmonic overtones at higher integral multiples of that frequency.
Symetrical vibrations produce even numbered harmonics while asymetrical vibrations produce odd harmonies. These sounds are typified by the flute which resonates symetrically because it has two open ends and reed instruments such as the clarinet which vibrate asymetrically.
Guitars produce both because the string resonates both symetrically (full length) and asymetrically (from the fixed position at the bridge and nut). Singing the sound of the guitar is a very good exercise at rounding the voice.
Often backing picks up on the resonances of the lead voice and selectively reproduces the highest frequency components without masking its character at the lower frequencies. We just pump what is known as the formant which is centered around 2800Hz.
This frequency is is centred between the sixth and eighth harmonics of 400 Hz (A above middle C) which is the peak of our hearing accuity. The sixth is the product of one odd and one even resonance. The eighth is a third generation even harmonic. The ninth is the second product of an odd harmonic.
The harmonics of the entire scale converge at in this frequency range so it is of central importance in singing to develop the formant resonances. The backing singer can help produce a formant for a lead.
The high frequency components of the sound have a powerful role in tuning. Guitar players will be familiar with the beat that occurs when two strings are not quite in tune. We hear the difference between the two frequencies. The higher harmonics also produce a beat when they are out of tune but the beat is very fast so any deviation from tuning can be much more quickly detected.
Taking contol of this region of the sound has a profound effect on the tuning of the lower freqencies. The fundamentals absorb some of the the energy of the formant by allowing their own frequency to lock into a subharmonic of the formant that is pumping them. It brings the fundamental sounds not only into tune but into phase.
The same principle is used in radios and is known as Phase Locked Loop.
Another part of a backing singer's job is to balance the odd and even harmonies present in the lead and the instruments. Sometimes I find myself injecting a lot odd harmonics when singing with several others who can resonate well together. Sometimes I will sing a fairly powerful twang into a sound to give it a bit more definition.
A backing singer can put a sharp attack onto parts of the lead's voice. This triggers a burst of odd harmonics to increase definition of the words. This is particularly useful when several voices get together and the words become indistinct due to the smudging of the attack by several slighly different onsets among the voices.
Sometime I don't sing the beginning of the word at all but instead hold the note while the lead breathes.
Consequenly I often sing broken pieces of songs, distorted towards odd harmonics, with enhanced energy in the higher frequencies and sharp edges. Thats is what I mean by it potentially sounding odd in isolation.
....It is done by pumping energy into the high frequency components of the other sounds in the same way a phase locked loop works in electrical signals. If you were to hear this kind of backing in isolation it would sound quite strange.
I don't have audio examples but a couple of concepts might help.
All sounds are made of fundamental resonances and a series of harmonic overtones at higher integral multiples of that frequency.
Symetrical vibrations produce even numbered harmonics while asymetrical vibrations produce odd harmonies. These sounds are typified by the flute which resonates symetrically because it has two open ends and reed instruments such as the clarinet which vibrate asymetrically.
Guitars produce both because the string resonates both symetrically (full length) and asymetrically (from the fixed position at the bridge and nut). Singing the sound of the guitar is a very good exercise at rounding the voice.
Often backing picks up on the resonances of the lead voice and selectively reproduces the highest frequency components without masking its character at the lower frequencies. We just pump what is known as the formant which is centered around 2800Hz.
This frequency is is centred between the sixth and eighth harmonics of 400 Hz (A above middle C) which is the peak of our hearing accuity. The sixth is the product of one odd and one even resonance. The eighth is a third generation even harmonic. The ninth is the second product of an odd harmonic.
The harmonics of the entire scale converge at in this frequency range so it is of central importance in singing to develop the formant resonances. The backing singer can help produce a formant for a lead.
The high frequency components of the sound have a powerful role in tuning. Guitar players will be familiar with the beat that occurs when two strings are not quite in tune. We hear the difference between the two frequencies. The higher harmonics also produce a beat when they are out of tune but the beat is very fast so any deviation from tuning can be much more quickly detected.
Taking contol of this region of the sound has a profound effect on the tuning of the lower freqencies. The fundamentals absorb some of the the energy of the formant by allowing their own frequency to lock into a subharmonic of the formant that is pumping them. It brings the fundamental sounds not only into tune but into phase.
The same principle is used in radios and is known as Phase Locked Loop.
Another part of a backing singer's job is to balance the odd and even harmonies present in the lead and the instruments. Sometimes I find myself injecting a lot odd harmonics when singing with several others who can resonate well together. Sometimes I will sing a fairly powerful twang into a sound to give it a bit more definition.
A backing singer can put a sharp attack onto parts of the lead's voice. This triggers a burst of odd harmonics to increase definition of the words. This is particularly useful when several voices get together and the words become indistinct due to the smudging of the attack by several slighly different onsets among the voices.
Sometime I don't sing the beginning of the word at all but instead hold the note while the lead breathes.
Consequenly I often sing broken pieces of songs, distorted towards odd harmonics, with enhanced energy in the higher frequencies and sharp edges. Thats is what I mean by it potentially sounding odd in isolation.
murphybridget
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Can you share your musical works?
