Unofficial Tex Murphy

Okay... let's put those 'shocked' smilies away for a sec, here's the news:

About 4 weeks ago I submitted a couple of my Orchestral Compositions into the Australian National Songwriting Contest, in the instrumental/sountrack category...

...on my way to work today I get a call on my mobile from the Head Honcho of the association telling me that I won the category! I was up against hundreds of entrants and I won! I was like "Oh my god!"

The piece which won was Calling The Storm ...which I have posted on here before, some of you may remember.

...what's interesting is, I literally mailed my submissions the morning of the competition's closing date... becuase I has almost forgotten about it. I am lucky that I did becuase it obvously paid off.

Now it's not all celebrations though becuase I have hit a predicament:

The awards ceremony is a huge formal event which is almsot as big as the ARIA awards here, and the winners from each category will need to perform their piece live. Seeing as my piece was sequenced entirely on computer (much like Matt Heider composes) I don't actually have the ability to perform any of it live... unless of course I create a backing track and play some of the instruments myself.... Either way, they were convinced it is a real orchestra (which makes me feel kinda good considering that's what I wanted)... but now I need to figure out how the hell I am supposed to perform this piece live in front of hundreds of people, including recording companies!

I am in shock

-Cub. =o)

P.S. And a few more for good measure...

Congrats cub.

ill be awaiting the photos of u playing several instrementa at the same time.

Cubase the one man orcastra

Bravo! Congrats!

That's sooo cool. Congratulations!

That's excellent, Cub! A hearty congratulations!

You don't think they'd have a problem if they knew it was sequenced, do you? If not, I'd look into preparing a slideshow or other visual of something related and just let it stand as what it is. Of course, I don't know how the ceremony works, so that may not be an option.

Cubase wrote:... now I need to figure out how the hell I am supposed to perform this piece live in front of hundreds of people, including recording companies!

Simple solution here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS35SuEi ... %20playing

Happy to help!

Hot Damn! Congrats, Cubase! That was a damn fine piece. I'm still wondering where you got that odd guitar patch/loop. It was cool as hell. That whole piece worked for me the first time I listened to it. Sounds like someone down there has got some sense. You must be quite the demon on GPO (turns around, watches back).
I find it a little odd that they would ask an orchestral piece to be performed live by just the composer. Are they looking for a piano reduction? Well, in any case, here are a couple of suggestions for the performance:

Step one: Go to the bars that have live music and start talking to various guitar players and see if they can play (and have access to) a dobro or even a mandolin. Ask one you like if he'd be interested in a little trade, say, some studio time for playing for you. The best motivation would be of course the fact that record company execs are there, natch.(Then again, depending on where you go, a couple of beers may be all you have to trade ) Get him a CD and set up some rehearsal time. Next, find yourself a piccolo player willing to help at one of the local college orchestras. Get him a printout of the score and a copy of the piece on CD. Do the same with a percussionist. Gong/Tamtam and rainstick might be some cool things to have on stage, they look impressive. (You may have to discuss with them a few things about how they want things notated.) Get everyone together and have a few beers, then start rehearsing, which brings me to...

Step two: Set up a keyboard patch that has the big sort of "Tutti" sound that's on the piece. Maybe try a velocity split or similar performance patch to give yourself some options during play. Use that for the big sections of the piece, and ask for a piano on stage for everything else. If you don't have gear that can do all that, and they won't spring for a piano, rent some keyboards. If you can find yourself a Roland XP-30, I can even do some programming for you, in case you need some help. An email-able sysex file in, oh, say, Cubase should do it, I think...

Lastly, remember that your arrangement will probably change quite a bit, but that could be a good thing. Think of it as doing one of the old "MTV unplugged" sessions. I would't worry about making it sound much like the recording; just get a good spirited performance out of your players. Pretty much treat it like you're doing a cover version, but putting your own band's spin on it. Don't get nervous. Easy to say, of course, but remember that YOU WON, making you the "artiste", so to speak, and that you can always say that you're looking for new ways to perform your music. This is one place where a bit of rationalizing comes in pretty handy.
Above all, don't apologize for anything in your performance. Everything that happens should feel intentional. Have a couple of good one-liners, in case things go really disastrous, but aim for doing your best anyway.

I'll stop dispensing advice now, lest I start to sound as old as, er, certain other people on this board (yes, I've grown fond of the whole rotten lot of you )

In any case, Cubase, you've made my day...

St. V

Congrats Cub.
Good luck on however it comes about!

We ALL wish you to kick bootie and take a few names.


Jen

Ah we knew him back when....he posted falling down drunk.

They can interview us for your VH1 Behind the music special.

Congrat, Cubase!:)


I THOUGHT YOU WON THE AUSTRAIAN LOTTERY when you said I WON! I WON!

I thought you won millions of dollars or whatever it is in australia current.

hope you win the 1st prize if you can do it? there prize if you win? $10,000,000 USD? or how does it work in front of hundreads of ppl?

To echo the sentiments of others, congratulations mate!

I'm sure you'll work out how to play your piece live (and awestrike the audience at the same time).

That's right, awestrike.

Good for you, Cub. We are very proud to have such a celeb and creative genious in our midst (no disrespect meant to AC, AC and CJ).

Congratulations man! As to the live performance, ask if they will supply the orchestra for you, then all you have to do is get a conductor and some note-sheets

But seriously, that IS nice going!

-Fred

Once you become big and famous we will finally have someone with enough money to fund another Tex Game. Yay, and you cant refuse Yay!

Congrats Cubase, thats amazing!
I don't really know what to suggest for your predicament however, I would probably just be honest with them and see what they could do technically for on-stage stuff with regard to setting up some kind of display whilst the computer-thingamobobby does its stuff... but I wish you all the very best!
Please let us know how it goes.

Thanks for all the kind words everyone, it means a lot!

Also, thanks for the advice St V!...

Thankfully I was able to find the original project file… so I have been able to isolate instruments. I have decided to go solo, with myself on stage with one or two keyboards re-introducing the flute and violin sections, with perhaps a string backing on the velocity split. I don’t think I can pull off re-introducing the dobro/mandolin because I don’t think I could find a patch that could emulate it as well. The instrument was originally a sample, which I deconstructed and reconstructed into a nice melodic structure…. The rest of the instruments were sequenced around it… but it acts as the centrepiece for the whole thing. It is also the time keeper, with the other instruments coming in after 8 bars. If I were to attempt to play it as well I will be 16 bars solo which causes all kinds of synch problems when playing to the backing.

Now that I have figured out how I can do it, I am trying to investigate a way of getting my GPO patches on stage… there is no way I want to bring my notebook up there and hook it into the keyboard(s)… so I am checking to see if I can get my hands on any hardware modules that will do the instruments justice… which should not be too hard. I am also trying to figure out a way of perhaps getting the GPO patches into a hardware sampler/module… because I know GPO uses the Kontakt interface, which has lead me to believe I may be able to explot/import patches across platforms. I will have to check it out.

Anyway, much rehearsal and work to do… not much time.

-Cub. =o)

Oh, by the way St. V: I have sent you an e-mail regarding that project for later this year we spoke of late last year.