Hark, how the cymbals clang

I'm not going to choir tonight - I'd never normally miss a piano rehearsal, but how often to you get a chance to see Manchester United v Barcelona live? I've been looking forward to it for three weeks! So, the rest of you who AREN'T going to Old Trafford, watch out for increased traffic :-)

I probably won't be allowed to sing in the concert on Thursday due to missing tonight's rehearsal, which is fair enough, but at least I've performed The Mystic Trumpeter once. I really enjoyed Sunday's concert in Ashton, despite the fact that my feet were killing me by the end, and I was very distracted throughout the second half because I was becoming more and more aware that the concert was going to run on much later than I'd expected, and the last train left at 2144. I did miss it (and I noticed quite a few of the audience leaving before the end, presumably for similar reasons) but I managed to get a lift home (although I felt extremely guilty because the person concerned had to drive a very long way out of her way!)

Yesterday morning I had the start of "Saarella Palaa" in my head for some reason (given that it's the least interesting bit of the song!) but ever since then it's been random bits of the Harty. Currently it's the cymbals clanging (hence the title of this post) but last night it was the bit just after that, with the monks. I think that's actually my favourite bit in the piece. (I know lots of people aren't too impressed with it overall, but I do really like some bits of it. It just goes on a bit too long! Mainly the huge baritone solo in the middle - which the soloist did beautifully, I just didn't particularly like the music!)

(For anyone who's not heard the piece - which will be most people, because it's never been recorded! - and is curious, this week's concert (which still has tickets available - you can buy online from that link) is to be recorded by the BBC and will be on Radio 3 at some point. I'll post details when we know more.)

Anyway, I've had a load of links stored up to share with you, and I sent them to myself at work so I could do a post at lunchtime - when I'm at home I tend to get distracted by other things before I get round to it! And I did *start* this at lunchtime... just finishing it at the end of the day before wandering over to Old Trafford.

So, these links are in no particular order other than roughly the order in which I acquired them.

Conductor does double duty as tenor loses voice

World’s Greatest Classical Music Album Cover

Virtuoso carries on tradition - about the lovely Jonathan - sadly the event it's advertising will have taken place by now - I wish I'd seen that!

After 500 years, the chimes they are a-changing - York Minster bells.

If you are a cat person but have never heard of Lolcats, have a look at the main lolcat site. (Warning: you will either love it or hate it.) My favourite recent ones are the Coke box one and the snow one.

Pomp & Circumstance, and Daleks - a Who's who of this year's Proms (and the Official Proms 2008 site is now online).

A daughter's brave tribute - make sure you watch the video of Catherine Todd singing "Somewhere" that's featured on this page. It's extremely moving - I'm not sure I could have done what she did at ALL, never mind do it as well as she did.

Norway king opens new opera house (its official website, with more pictures, is here).

Wii can conduct an orchestra too - should be fun to try! (And if you've not tried a Wii yet, make sure you do if you get the chance.)

When Your Dreams Fail - someone brilliantly articulating her feelings on realising that she would never be a professional singer after all :-( But to cheer you up again, there's Sweet singing in the choir... - a nice description of what it means to sing in a choir.

We need the English music that the Arts Council hates - interesting Spectator article

25 minute composition: "The Most Unwanted Song"

Perfect length for a pop song: 2:42

An Engineer's Guide to Cats - again, you'll love this if you're a cat person - if not, don't bother!

Anyone can get rhythm - someone taking drumming lessons.

No Fortissimo? Symphony Told to Keep It Down

A really clever clock - watch it for a while to see what I mean!

Some poetic inspiration - MEN article previewing The Mystic Trumpeter - mentions The Scott Brothers Duo site.

And finally - this 1-minute video might make you feel good about the world :-)

Breathe between your fierys

I'll do a post with links at some stage soon when I have time, but I just wanted to get this one up. Here are some mp3s for you:

Faire is the Heaven
Toward the unknown region
O clap your hands
O nata lux
Saarella palaa
Min rastas raataa
Venematka
Justorum animae (this one's not in the right key, sorry - I couldn't find a recording that was)

And, you thought it couldn't be done, but... here are some mp3s of The Mystic Trumpeter (yes, the Hamilton Harty version!)

But, before you get TOO excited, please be warned that these are not actual recordings (because there is no actual recording in existence) - these are computer creations for the sole purpose of helping people learn the notes. They are not intended to be listened to for pleasure :-)

Choose which one suits your needs best - you don't need to download all of them (each one is about 20MB - N.B. this means they will take several minutes to download on even the fastest of connections, so please be patient). The first one has the choir parts played by what the computer thinks is a vocal "doo" sound. The second has the choir parts played with a clarinet sound - might seem an odd choice, but it makes the notes much easier to distinguish. Both of these first two versions have the four parts at equal volume. The S/A/T/B versions each have the relevant part played loudly on the clarinet, with the other three parts played quietly on a vocal "doo".

I should also warn you that:

1. I haven't included every note, due to lack of time (the piece is much longer than I thought it was when I had the idea of doing this!) All the choir bits are there, though, with a few bars' cue before each bit (it shouldn't be too hard to work out where I've cut to each time), and I've added a few random piano bits where it seemed most helpful.

2. I have guessed many of the speeds - apologies if they turn out to be wildly wrong.

3. There is no way (that I know of) of getting the computer to sing the lyrics. I'm sure Sibelius will add this feature eventually though - there's not much else the software can't do!

4. I did all this very quickly, so it's entirely likely I've made a few mistakes that I didn't notice when I listened to the finished version. Apologies, if so - hopefully there won't be any that are bad enough to put you off.

Anyway, hope this is of some use. Do let me know if it is - I love to be helpful :-)

The Mystic Trumpeter - doo
The Mystic Trumpeter - clarinet
The Mystic Trumpeter - soprano
The Mystic Trumpeter - alto
The Mystic Trumpeter - tenor
The Mystic Trumpeter - bass

Oh, and while I'm being helpful, here's a map for Albion Church.