Tune Arrangement -- City of Ships MIDI File

[ragtimer]

Here is a historic item -- the 6-part concertina orchestra arrangment I made of "City Of Ships" for the 2004 NESI. I was invited to do this by a fellow ragtime composer named Richard Morse who found my ragtime web site and likedmy work.

Rich wanted this tune, which I had arranged for a crank monkey organ, set up for COncertina Orchestra.

"A WHAT?" I replied. But RIch explained to me the ranges of the various types of EC, and I delivered the goods.

And taught and conducted it at Bucksteep Manor in 2004.

 

And fell in love with the squeezeboxes, which I had never seen before.

Rich explained to me why the Hayden Duet owuld be best for me. Bless his soul, may he rest in peace, I love my Haydens.

 

Anyway, here is the MIDI file, set to play on free reed instruments. It's copyrighted by me, but I have sheet music available.

Enjoy, Mike K.

Oops -- the system won't allow uploads of MIDI files. So get it off my Web site:

http://83.105.111.87/mjknudsen/Rags.html#City

 

and click on the 4th link in the CIty of Ships paragraph, for the Concertina version.

Edited March 22, 2009 by ragtimer

[Pete Dunk]

Here's an mp3 of the midi played back through a Roland Sound Canvas sound module.

 

City of Ships.

 

Edited to add:

 

I've uploaded this to Sound Lantern now to save space on this server.The original file attachment has been removed.

Edited March 22, 2009 by tallship

[Hereward]

Here's an mp3 of the midi played back through a Roland Sound Canvas sound module.

 

What a fine sound that is.

 

Ian

[Ken_Coles]

Nice to make the connection...So "ragtimer" is the nice gentleman who conducted us through City of Ships in 2004 (see photo of me in bass section in that NESI report). After the event, Rich lamented that the recording by the BBox folks had failed. I said I had one, as I had set my minidisk recorder next to me and recorded the entire piece as we performed it. I told Rich it was probably too heavy with bass due to my location, but maybe we could Equalize that out a bit. He expressed interest in having the recording. I'm pretty sure I transferred it to a now retired computer and to a CD, but the CD vanished in my several recent moves. Maybe it is time to dig this up and share it this time, if our composer is amenable. I will have to get it off the MD recording and redo the transfer. My old MD recorder is kaput, and I have an MD deck I bought but haven't hooked up yet. I know Rich would have been pleased to have you all hear this, although it may not be the best recording...I may not have time for this until my university finishes the term, but I'll move it to the top of the to-do pile on my desk.

 

It was indeed a fine piece, and fun to play - Thank you!

 

Ken

[ragtimer]

Nice to make the connection...So "ragtimer" is the nice gentleman who conducted us through City of Ships in 2004 (see photo of me in bass section in that NESI report). After the event, Rich lamented that the recording by the BBox folks had failed. I said I had one, as I had set my minidisk recorder next to me and recorded the entire piece as we performed it. I told Rich it was probably too heavy with bass due to my location, but maybe we could Equalize that out a bit. He expressed interest in having the recording. I'm pretty sure I transferred it to a now retired computer and to a CD, but the CD vanished in my several recent moves. Maybe it is time to dig this up and share it this time, if our composer is amenable. I will have to get it off the MD recording and redo the transfer. My old MD recorder is kaput, and I have an MD deck I bought but haven't hooked up yet. I know Rich would have been pleased to have you all hear this, although it may not be the best recording...I may not have time for this until my university finishes the term, but I'll move it to the top of the to-do pile on my desk.

 

It was indeed a fine piece, and fun to play - Thank you!

Ken

And thank YOU, Ken, gfor volunteering to dig for that recording. Yes, I remember the BBox recording failed for some reason.

Of course I encourage you to find, equalize, and post that recording. Meanwhile, my MIDI file plays all the right notes at the right time

 

Do you remembr Rachel Hall on the big Bass concertina? And during rehearsal, I asked her to play the final passage legato, not staccato, and she replied that the bellows hadn't the capacity to get thru those two measures legato!

 

We sounded great -- tho the best sound was in the stone chapel where we practiced together. Great experience, and now I'm a confirmed squeeze-aholic.

--Mike K.

[ragtimer]

Here's an mp3 of the midi played back through a Roland Sound Canvas sound module.

 

City of Ships.

 

Edited to add:

 

I've uploaded this to Sound Lantern now to save space on this server.The original file attachment has been removed.

Wow! That's a great realization of my MIDI file. Sounds every bit as good as my Yamaha MU-15 rendition, and far better than the usual Microsoft "softsynth" playback of most PCs.

 

Thanks very much for posting it. ANd for discovering SoundLantern. Maybe I should join that and post some of my other stuff.

Thanks again, Mike K.