# My Computer is a 1950s Orchestra - Part 5



## alexballmusic (Mar 23, 2018)

My on-going experiments with golden age orchestral music brought to life entirely with virtual instruments. This is part 5, "High Heels" by Trevor Duncan from 1955. You can see the libraries used in the video.




I also did an analysis of a section of the harmony of this exact piece in this video here:


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## Polkasound (Mar 23, 2018)

Whenever I see a new 1950's Orchestra video from you, it's like opening presents on Christmas day. So much to enjoy! Thanks for sharing your exceptional work!


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## PaulBrimstone (Mar 23, 2018)

Polkasound said:


> Whenever I see a new 1950's Orchestra video from you, it's like opening presents on Christmas day. So much to enjoy! Thanks for sharing your exceptional work!


+1 and like a birthday too. Fabulous.


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## devonmyles (Mar 23, 2018)

Polkasound said:


> Whenever I see a new 1950's Orchestra video from you, it's like opening presents on Christmas day. So much to enjoy! Thanks for sharing your exceptional work!



Indeed...........

A great listen as always, Alex.


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## alexballmusic (Mar 23, 2018)

Thanks one and all.


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## Pantonal (Mar 24, 2018)

Delightful, but don't the hanging notes at the end defeat the purpose of the quick pizz 5th at the end?


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## Dr Belasco (Mar 25, 2018)

A real favorite in the 50s with Pathé Pictorial and most cinematic news reels. He was most famous for the The March from A Little Suite in the UK because of the long running Dr Finlay's Casebook.


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## Mike Fox (Mar 25, 2018)

I dig.


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## alexballmusic (Mar 26, 2018)

Pantonal said:


> Delightful, but don't the hanging notes at the end defeat the purpose of the quick pizz 5th at the end?



Think it's a bit too much reverb there. Probably should have automated it down to let those notes be cleaner.


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## ZOZZ (Mar 26, 2018)

Oh, man. So good! Bravo!


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## bdr (Apr 2, 2018)

you're a whiz Alex!!


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## KEM (Apr 3, 2018)

Sounds great Alex, and I'm thankful for the harmony videos, I'd love to see more of them if you have the time to make them, out of anything theory I'd have to say harmony is what I see as most important and what I try to study the most, so it'd be awesome if you could do more!!


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## devonmyles (Apr 3, 2018)

Thanks to Alex and his 50's offerings, I discovered the Canadian-born composer, 'Robert Farnon' and his light orchestra offerings.
I hope it's ok to post this in this thread ? If not I will delete.


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## alexballmusic (Apr 3, 2018)

devonmyles said:


> Thanks to Alex and his 50's offerings, I discovered the Canadian-born composer, 'Robert Farnon' and his light orchestra offerings.
> I hope it's ok to post this in this thread ? If not I will delete.




Love Farnon! I even did a mock up of one of his pieces in this series:


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## alexballmusic (Apr 3, 2018)

KEM said:


> Sounds great Alex, and I'm thankful for the harmony videos, I'd love to see more of them if you have the time to make them, out of anything theory I'd have to say harmony is what I see as most important and what I try to study the most, so it'd be awesome if you could do more!!



Thanks. Yeah. totally agree. The harmony of this genre and how it's orchestrated is so rich and interesting. And so different to modern scoring. A light and fun sound to the listener, deeply complicated under the hood!

I'm planning on doing three more "Utterly Spiffing Guides". One on woodwinds, one on brass and one where I put together an entirely original composition in the style using concepts from all of the videos. Beyond that, they're pretty time consuming to research and make and so perhaps someone else will take the baton. Would be great to have more info about it online, I was so frustrated I couldn't find anything at all when I first got into it. So I'm really glad to hear my little offering has been useful to others.


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## devonmyles (Apr 3, 2018)

alexballmusic said:


> Love Farnon! I even did a mock up of one of his pieces in this series:




Yes, that’s why I said ‘Thanks to Alex’.

It seems he spent half of his life living in Guernsey (Channel Islands).
I have been having a good read up on his career, along with listening to pieces on YouTube.
He composed some very fine work and indeed, some I didn’t realise was him. 
His writing is a real good study in Orchestrating and a very enjoyable listen.

Looking forward to the ‘Woodwinds & Brass’ videos you are planning.


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## alexballmusic (Apr 3, 2018)

devonmyles said:


> Yes, that’s why I said ‘Thanks to Alex’.
> 
> It seems he spent half of his life living in Guernsey (Channel Islands).
> I have been having a good read up on his career, along with listening to pieces on YouTube.
> ...



Yep. He was prolific, often pops up as the composer on British Pathe films. Angela Morley wrote "A Canadian in Mayfair" in honour of him. Think he then moved to Guernsey for tax reasons.

The Light Music Society has a number of his scores if you're interested in sheet music. Can be borrowed inexpensively. They're mainly three staff reductions, but have the bulk of what you need for analysis.


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## Dr Belasco (Apr 3, 2018)

Alex, you should let Patrick listen to that for fun.


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## JonAdamich (Apr 4, 2018)

Always a pleasure watching these. Thanks!


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## Saxer (Apr 4, 2018)

Really sophisticated fun stuff!


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## Ben E (Apr 4, 2018)

Every time you post I get excited to hear what you've done. Just superb!


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## Jonny G (Apr 4, 2018)

These tracks are great. I tried doing this style for a music library with V.I. Turned out OK, not like the real thing:

http://www.scorekeepersvms.com/tracks?search=1013448


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## jesc126 (Apr 4, 2018)

Awesome! I've got some catching up to do on your utterly spiffing video series.


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## sleepfacingwest (Apr 6, 2018)

alexballmusic said:


> The Light Music Society has a number of his scores if you're interested in sheet music.


Is this an actual organization? Do you have a link to the light music society? Google searches have been unfruitful.


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## sleepfacingwest (Apr 6, 2018)

I'd taken a stab at light music as well heavily influenced by Les Baxter. I'd love any critiques since this seems to be your wheelhouse.


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## Henu (Apr 6, 2018)

Someone said:


> Whenever I see ANY video from you, it's like opening presents on Christmas day.



Fixed.


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## Polkasound (Apr 6, 2018)

Henu said:


> Fixed.



Your intentions were harmless, but still, I don't like to be misquoted.


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## Henu (Apr 6, 2018)

Happy?


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## Polkasound (Apr 6, 2018)

Henu said:


> Happy?



Thank you.


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## alexballmusic (Apr 6, 2018)

sleepfacingwest said:


> Is this an actual organization? Do you have a link to the light music society? Google searches have been unfruitful.



Hiya,

Yes a charitable organisation in the UK. If you PM me I'll give you the email address of the librarian. Their website is down at the moment for maintenance.

Alex


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## alexballmusic (Apr 6, 2018)

sleepfacingwest said:


> I'd taken a stab at light music as well heavily influenced by Les Baxter. I'd love any critiques since this seems to be your wheelhouse.




Haha, you legend. Feedback for what it's worth.

What's good:

The legato section is great. The chord progression is really right. Made me smile.

The overall mood, flow and structure is good. Contrasting sections with strong melody etc. An important hallmark of the genre.

What could be better:
The pizzicato section feels a bit robotic. They often play that stuff at very mp to mf dynamics with only accented notes at the higher dynamics. A common mistake is to do it all at forte dynamic. If you listen to the track in the original post, the midi dynamics might demonstrate what I mean.

The chords feel like they're too open in that section too. Is it just a melody in octaves? Have you watched this one I did on block chord writing for pizzicato strings? Melody in octaves with three harmony notes moving in between at all times. It's exactly what they did, instantly gets the right sound.



But generally it's a lot of fun and a great start and has the right ingredients, which is easier said than done. Always enjoy hearing compositions in the style.


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## sleepfacingwest (Apr 6, 2018)

Thank you for taking the time to give me real feedback! These are really good suggestions.


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## jesc126 (May 9, 2018)

After watching your utterly spiffing series, I felt inspired to compose a little ditty with some 5 part harmony. The mockup sounded lifeless so I decided to just play it myself on ukelele, nylon guitar, and slide guitar. Brush kit is midi, so I think this still qualifies for a post on VI Control, haha. 

I'd love any feedback. It's pretty short and unlayered; maybe at some point I'll expand on the form and orchestration.

[AUDIOPLUS=https://vi-control.net/community/attachments/she-must-be-dreaming-mp3.13347/][/AUDIOPLUS]


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## alexballmusic (May 14, 2018)

jesc126 said:


> After watching your utterly spiffing series, I felt inspired to compose a little ditty with some 5 part harmony. The mockup sounded lifeless so I decided to just play it myself on ukelele, nylon guitar, and slide guitar. Brush kit is midi, so I think this still qualifies for a post on VI Control, haha.
> 
> I'd love any feedback. It's pretty short and unlayered; maybe at some point I'll expand on the form and orchestration.
> 
> [AUDIOPLUS=https://vi-control.net/community/attachments/she-must-be-dreaming-mp3.13347/][/AUDIOPLUS]



Hi,

Sorry I missed this, haven't been checking VI control. Thanks for composing a piece.

The ukulele and guitar arrangement is fun. I can imagine it for orchestra, so this is a nice way to put it down if vsts weren't bringing it to life.

Small things really.

Bass could be improved in some places, like where it stays on one note where it could maybe move between roots / 5ths or in octaves. Namely 30 - 34 second mark. It sounds like the music doesn't quite know where to go for a couple of bars there. I think the bass on one repeated note is the main culprit.

The slide bit is great. That's where you'd get into the super thick close harmony. Have you got two slide parts going on? You need 5 or 6 for THAT sound. Here's an equivalent section of "Holiday for Strings as a real-life example".

49 seconds into "Holiday for Strings" until 1'01" on this YouTube link.



Here's the dots for you to analyse.




















51 seconds. The ending works, but it's more of a blues sound. A more "on-genre" way to end would be this via the old trick of secondary dominants.

Chord VI but as a secondary dominant. Then II as a secondary dominant then V13 to V7b13 and back to I.

So:

| I / / / | V/ii / / / | V/V / / / | V13 / V7b13 / | I / / / |

As you're in Bb here, that would be (with on-genre extensions)

| Bb6/9 / / / | G7 / / / | C7 / / / | F13 / F7b13 / | Bb6/9 / / / |

Obviously melody and phrasing need adjusting to fit. You could even invert the chords and get a chromatic bass line (Bb6/9 - G7/B - C7 - F13/C - F7b13/Db - Bb6/D). So bass is going Bb, B, C, C, Db, D.

I've not tried the above, I'm sat on a train, but that kind of stuff is often where the juice is found. If it sounds awful, ignore it.

Another thing to try - you've swapped chord IV for that of the parallel minor. That's very right, but you can go a step further a make chord IV a minor major7 chord. That's got 40s/50s written all over it!

Other than that, utterly spiffing work dear fellow! I hope this helps.

Alex


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## Nesciochamp (May 14, 2018)

awesome stuff! Subbed on your soundcloud, keep'm coming!


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## alexballmusic (May 14, 2018)

Nesciochamp said:


> awesome stuff! Subbed on your soundcloud, keep'm coming!



Thanks!


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## jesc126 (May 16, 2018)

Alex - 

Thanks so much taking the time to give me all that input! Yeah, I didn't really know how to end it so went with the blues cliche, but you are probably right that chord movement in 4ths w/ secondary doms would fit the piece better. The slide is a 3 part harmony - thought it might be nice to get a break from the 5 part (of the uke/guitar), but I'll try filling in the gaps in the slide harmony to thicken up the texture. 

And I feel you on the bass holding one note too long. Was aiming for contrast from the walking movement, but I held it out too long. Ah, yes the IVmi(maj7) - will fit that flavor in there somewhere. 

I'll repost the track once I have a chance to make some edits.

Johnny


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## Craig Peters (Jul 5, 2018)

alexballmusic said:


> Love Farnon! I even did a mock up of one of his pieces in this series:



This is really awesome stuff! I've actually been wanting to experiment and learn more of this style. Sounds so cool!


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## SimonCharlesHanna (Sep 10, 2018)

Hey @alexballmusic can I ask how you did this for the harmony bar? did you manually put the strokes in?


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## alexballmusic (Sep 10, 2018)

SimonCharlesHanna said:


> Hey @alexballmusic can I ask how you did this for the harmony bar? did you manually put the strokes in?



Yes, put crotchets in in the middle of the stave. Then change noteheads to the blank ones.


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