Engraving a Song
This is a little diversion from the usual, but I found a need to temporarily get back into the World of Music after many years of being out of touch. Out of touch is I have forgotten most of what I learned years ago when I delved into playing a Violin and the Piano/Keyboard and Guiter.
From when I was a youngster, I was always enamored by the violin my mother had, but never let me touch. I wonder why? Perhaps because I had the disturbing habit of trying to take things apart to see how they worked…
So, many years later I did get the opportunity to dip into playing. The instrument I used was a Carlo Lamberti Violin that had beautiful markings on the back, and had a rich beautiful sound. After playing with it I realized I had no musical ear for the notes, so ended selling it to a wonderful “real” violin player who happens to live in Chaparral, NM. She uses it daily to teach and perform in El Paso, TX. So, it went to a good home.
Next, and kind-of at the same time my wife and I decided to try to learn the piano. So, we did a similar thing. Again, we both lost interest after a while, so the keyboard went to the music leader of my wife’s singing group, where once again it was “home.”
Guitar was next. This time we both had an interest as my wife had played and taken guitar lessons from a Pastor who used to teach classes in Chaparral. She wanted to get back into that and see if it would stick. So, once again we acquired a couple of guitars, hers set up by luthier Barry Martin himself. Also from Barry, I acquired a classic guitar made in Spain by Miguel-Angel. The varnish on the back was checked, so the price was reasonable.
All during this time, I, being more interested in the possible computer aspects of music, delved into “music engraving.” The motivation was to create, and keep track of, the music we were learning to play. This led me to a couple of wonderful programs designed to do just that: Frescobaldi, and MuseScore. Both are wonderful programs. I used MuseScore a bit; but because I started on Frescobaldi first, I kind of gravitated to that one for most everything, even though it was a steeper learning curve.
Yes, I will get to the point of this post. At the Church I attend, I noticed there are some hymns there is no music for. While that is not a huge thing, I thought it would be nice if we had music to use while singing. So, even though it has been many years since I have used it, I thought Frescobaldi would be a possible way to create music for a particular song. Yes, there are easier ways, as the music score has to be engraved in order to create the MIDI file. That is not the most efficient way to get notes…
However, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to reacquaint myself with Frescobaldi. Once again the learning curve is steep!
Oh, I forgot to mention that Frescobaldi is just a frontend for LilyPond, which is the actual machine behind the Frescobaldi GUI.
Then another issue cropped up. Every church seems to use different Hymnals or song books. I have a small collection of Hymnals I have acquired in my collection (I prefer the older ones), so I can usually find several versions that may be different. All this is a chance to become more familar with the engraver. As the keyboard we had was the only MIDI instrument, I now have no option but to do it by hand instead of just playing it on the keys.
Recently, I did another song, that, as it turned out was different from the version in the Hymnal, and it sounded rather odd as we were struggling to match the music with our singing. Even though the Pastor is a wonderful leader and very talented in music (instruments and voice, Praise God!) and plays several instruments, as does several members of his family, it was difficult to see how the song was supposed to sound.
So, now I have done another version I will post here, just for the fun of it, and as I have not posted in a while (winter is kind of a slow season).
This PDF file was engraved in hopes of being of some use. It is I Am Thine O lord. The MIDI file is here. and is 2 minutes 55 seconds in length. This includes the lead-in (violin) and 4 stanzas (acoustic grand piano). Most CD/DVD burners will take a MIDI file and automatically convert it to a wave file during the burning process.
So, Lord willing, someone will enjoy this short article on “music engraving” and be stirred to something wonderful.