As promised I’ve posted two more songs from the movie music CD. “Loss Of Love” is the Henry Mancini composition from SUNFLOWER and “Over The Rainbow” was written by Harold Arlen for THE WIZARD OF OZ. Living in a rural area of California, I have no contact with other keyboard players. Your suggestions for improving my work would be greatly appreciated.
Frank

mp3 page kool-keys.com

CONGRATS !!!
I have just listen to your arrangement of "over the rainbow" it's GREAT and special like you play that in the "Maurice Ravel" style. I like it very much.
Greetings,
Notlos



------------------

Frank,
I have downloaded your songs and I think that, like Dirk Baert wrote, the idea of using a Bolero style in Over the Rainbow is really original; I don't know why there is an evident change in the sound quality when you switch style, at about 3 minutes from the beginning.
Frank, you are asking for opinions; well, I am by no means qualified to give opinions to anyone, but our common friend Scott Yee maybe is; about one year ago he gave me this advice: "When you play a song, try at the same time to SING it in your head". I have found this advice extremely helpful. My personal experience (and my mistakes) had me learn a few other things:
- I always try to keep a song short (ideally around 2 minutes) because I think that after 2-2:30 minutes the listener's attention tends to fade away;
- Since I am not particularly gifted from a technical point of view, I try to make up for that deficiency giving a lot of attention to other details; so, before recording a new song I make every effort to have a kind of "script" ready in my mind: style to use, instruments most suited for the song and, most important, where the focal point of the song will be.
I know that you have worked in the movie industry, so I am sure that this concept is familiar to you; every movie has one "climax" (sometimes even more) and is built around those focal points; the same goes for a song.
So I guess that there are really a lot of things to consider, but the end result will repay one for all the efforts.
Frank, thank you for your songs and also for giving me the opportunity to at least start to discuss these points; I hope that other people will contribute to this discussion with their opinions too.
Andrea

Dirk - Andrea,
What a kick to hear from both of you. It’s interesting that two such busy people will take the time to write. Andrea you are quite right about Scott. Those of us who know him are blessed by his friendship. After corresponding for some time, I had the pleasure of meeting him at a music festival. I somewhat coerce him into singing with the great jazz pianist, Sue Downs. Sue, who is a concert performer for Yamaha and a regular at the Monterey Jazz Festival opened the door to any singer to join her. I introduced Scott and they brought the audience to their feet with a spontaneous rendition of Route 66.

I certainly agree with you about the length of an arrangement in live performances. Unless you are a jazz performer with the skill to improvise solos, it seems as though 2:30 to 3 minutes is a good length for a pop song. However, in producing a selection of songs for a CD I think longer arrangements can work. For example Claus Ogerman goes for almost seven minutes in “Besame Mucho” and six minutes in “The Night We Called It A Day” on the current Diana Krall CD. I guess I’m looking for two things in building the structure of an arrangement; the opportunity of presenting a well known song in a new way and finding a way to introduce an element of surprise in the arrangement.

I think these two properties are apparent in “Nobody Does It Better”, “Over The Rainbow” and “Loss Of Love”. I especially like the symphonic set up for “Loss Of Love” which has the kind of haunting melody that Dirk might have written. One of my favorites is “Dreaming Of You”. In studying Dirk’s arrangements and those of other fine arrangers I’m trying to simulate the kind of counter melodies we hear on commercial CD’s without having to play along with sequenced tracks. In “Ruby”, which has a traditional pop song structure, I’ve written eight measure patterns, rather than the usual four that are in most keyboards. This allows the counter melody to occasionally start on the third measure rather than the first and the ability to get a far less mechanical backing by moving back and forth between variations.

It’s wonderful that both of you are willing to share your music. An occasional departure from, “What’s The latest Gear?”, brings a bit of fresh air to the forum.
Frank

Frank:
I am impressed! Possibly the best arrangements I've heard so far out of an arranger. First, let me congratulate you on your taste for music, is refreshing to know that there are still musicians out there who appreciate "truly" good old music. I like your creativity and experimentation of new sounds with older themes. I liked all your MP3s, particularly your rendition of "Ruby" with a "touch" of the Bossanova. "Nobody does it better" also is daring and very effective. I also liked a lot that you keep the music changing all the time and there is no "monotony" which could remind you of an arranger KB being played. "Round Midnight" is superb, the strings and harmony of the song are "haunting" and full with warmth.
Frank, I can see how your music would sell very well. keep up the great work and thanks for the "inspiration", maybe there's hope for the few of us that are trying and still appreciate melodious music as an art form, not a selling commodity. That only comes after the "hard work".
You mentioned in the thread that you have made a rendition of Mancinis "Sunflower"(My wife and I fell in love listening to this song) but I could not find it (disappointed). Can't wait to hear it.
In the "critics" department, I have a small one (and you thought, you were going to go scott free, huh!) . In some songs, not all, I found a small tendency of you "rushing" the melody a bit. Nothing a little quantazising couldn't do. Otherwise, congratulations!. A job well done.
Regards,
Mario
PS. Please , tell us about your equipment set up.

Hi Frank;
It's me again. After listening to Loss of Love in it's intirety, I realized that it was the theme from Sunflower. Sorry, my mistake.
It's absolutely beautiful and brought a lot of memories while my wife and I listened . She also agrees with me about your other songs. Thanks again for making our day a delight!
Mario

Frank, thanks for the very kind words. I feel EQUALLLY blessed to have met you, as well as so many other wonderful people thru this forum. The Synthzone arranger forum is truly a SPECIAL place which would have been inconceivable 5-6 years ago.

Yes, it was indeed a thrill to perform with Sue Downs. She is not only an extradonary musician but a wonderfully warm person as well. Did you guys see her pictured in the in the same article (4/02 Keyboard Magazine) that Dan O'Neil is featured in?

What really excites me is to hear the tremondous musical growth Andrea (Dreamer) & Frank have made since their first Synthzone song submissions (over a year ago). Andrea, I really am touched that you were able to take my suggestion of playing (phrasing) the melody (as though you are actually singing it (thru your playing). Your expressisve vocal phrasing really comes thru in your keyboard playing now. BRAVO! I too, like Dirk (Notlos), find Frank Bez's rendition of 'Over the Rainbow' very cool, with a fresh twist. I really admire Frank's ability to successfully apply unusual (unexpected) styles to his renditions of classic standards, perhaps even Picasso like in his approach. I really Look forward to hearing more from both Andrea & Frank, as well as from are resident jazz affeciando & Solton keyboard player extradonaire, Dirk Baert (Notlos). Dirk, I'm really EXCITED about the prospects of the upcoming XD9, and hope you will be able to showcase and share with us, its' sounds/styles thru your music. Peace and friendship to all. - Scott
http://scottyee.com

Hi Guys,
The fog in the Central Coast of California has let up, which has motivated me to start construction of a pagoda in my back yard, thus keeping me away from the computer. Sorry for the delay in responding. Mario, I’m pleased you found “Loss Of Love”. I should have explained that the opening for that SUNFLOWER theme was borrowed from another Mancini score called “Experiment In Terror”. The music was not a song as such - no lyrics - but just a theme used in the movie. I thought it was an interesting contrast to the beautiful SUNFLOWER melody.

My production method is very simple. I sequence almost everything in real time on the KN6000. Occasionally when there is too much going on or it is impossible to modify an existing pattern, I will build on Intro, ending or a pattern in the sequencer and then copy it into one of the pattern locations. Technics allows you to copy up to sixteen measures from the sequencer into any of what they call the Composer (backing) locations. There are a number of obvious advantages in this procedure, not the least of which is to introduce a piece of music in a different key and easily transpose it in the copying process.

Then I line up my changes in the presets. Many arrangements may have a dozen or more changes, so with my failing memory, it’s important to get them organized. Now it’s just a matter of sequencing the thing without any errors. When I feel I can’t do any better, I step away from the song for a day and then go back and listen with headphones. This is an important step for it allows fine tuning the balance of parts, the sound processing and the panning, which is a critical factor in producing an effective CD. I then burn the saved file directly to a stand alone CD recorder.

I’m clearly guilty of phrasing before and at times after the beat too much. Bob Hendershot, a very talented KN5000 player has mentioned this to me too. I think Scott’s advise to play a song straight the first time before making unusual chord changes could very well be applied to phrasing too. I’ll do my best to follow the composer’s intentions in the future.

My thanks to all who bring their interesting comments and inspiring music to this forum.

Frank