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Michael Allen
Aug 8, 2017
Thorny textures
For those that aren't familiar, Grainger frequently reworked his own compositions for instrumentations other than the original. Handel in...
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Michael Allen
Aug 7, 2017
Voice leading - an introduction
It is cool and damp here in Colorado this morning - it feels like fall. The sound of (gulp) drum lines fills the air. My high school band...
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Michael Allen
Aug 6, 2017
A quick word about MIDI
MIDI has come a long way in 30 years and there are some really good MIDI sampled sounds. But music that sounds right coming out of your...
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Michael Allen
Aug 5, 2017
Four Dimensional Texture
This blog is a way to collect my thoughts and 'ship em.' This is modeled after the blogging philosophy of Seth Godin (one of my daily...
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Michael Allen
Aug 4, 2017
Damned by faint praise
In about 1843, Hector Berlioz wrote in his famous Treatise on Instrumentation "The bass tuba possesses an immense advantage over all...
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Michael Allen
Aug 3, 2017
Opportunities to write for the alto trombone
I know some trombonists who just felt a disturbance in the force. My brass ensemble has 6 treble instruments and 5 bass instruments,...
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Michael Allen
Aug 2, 2017
What mouthpiece do you play?
Most of the trumpet players I play with usually play C trumpet in public, so I used to write only C trumpet parts. But there was some...
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Michael Allen
Aug 1, 2017
With tinny blasts on tiny trumpets
The title of this entry is a portion of one of my favorite quotes (see below) by cartoonist Walt Kelly. Of course, this is not at all how...
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Michael Allen
Jul 31, 2017
Striving for balance with horns
Another curious Richard Strauss quote "If you can just barely hear the (French) horns on stage, the balance is perfect." Strauss clearly...
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Michael Allen
Jul 30, 2017
Go ahead - look at the trombones
Richard Strauss famously quipped "Don't look at the trombones; it only encourages them." It is an ironic observation coming from a...
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