Tim Thulson - Blog

Core Library: Music Theory

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On May 24, 2021

In Music

I have a kind of core music theory library that I keep revisiting, a few books on key topics–not mostly from my student days, as it happens, but things I’ve heard recommended and picked up along the way.

My perspective on these is probably a little different from, say, a theory professor’s–and, I’ll admit, less sophisticated. I’m a cellist and a cello teacher, so I’m focused primarily on, you know, making good sounds with the cello. But…but! Theory is critical to artistry and interpretation, so we have to work it in alongside technique and repertoire. And when I’m arranging or composing, theory is critical.

So these are my core references:

[I’ve linked to Amazon so it’s easy to identify each book, but you can find most of these books much cheaper if you look for used copies. Old editions are totally fine! I like thriftbooks.com, or abebooks.com, for example, or anywhere you can find used books.]

  • Aldwell and Schachter, Harmony and Voice Leading. Start here! Great exposition of the basics, and then a great, in-depth treatment of harmony.
  • Green, Form in Tonal Music. Musical form/structure is probably the area that I continue to think about most consciously from my music theory studies; it’s critical for interpretative decisions as a performer, and of course it’s vital to arranging/composing. Green moves fast and covers a lot of ground, but he’s easy to follow if you’ve got a good grounding in the basics (like from Aldwell and Schachter).
  • Kennan, Counterpoint. Kennan takes a practical approach that, from my seat, makes his the most useful of the counterpoint books I’ve seen.
  • Adler, The Study of Orchestration. This is really the key text on orchestration. Magnificent and comprehensive for thinking about how composers construct sound in the orchestral world (and for thinking about how we fit into the bigger picture from our cello desks).
  • Gould, Behind Bars. THE critical reference on music notation. Don’t leave home without it.
  • Baker, Arranging and Composing for the Small Ensemble: Jazz, R&B, Jazz-Rock. David Baker is absolutely amazing (I mean, c’mon, he was a cellist! of course he was amazing), and I’ve found this book particularly helpful as a serious reference for non-classical approaches to music theory, notation, and performance.

Tempo/Beat Mapping in REAPER

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On May 10, 2021

In Music

Here’s a quick way to map REAPER‘s tempo track to an existing recording…

Credit due: this writeup–my daily process–is based on posts from several others in REAPER’s (y’know, amazing) user community: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ryz7BfQnzg | https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/tempo-mapping | https://forums.cockos.com/showthread.php?p=1966295

1. Set a couple of things up in REAPER

  • Get the SWS Extensions for REAPER
  • Set up a keyboard shortcut for the Action “SWS/BR: Move closest grid line to mouse cursor (perform until shortcut released)”
    • Actions menu | Show action list
    • type the action name into the Filter box
    • click the action in the list
    • Below, in the Shortcuts for selected action area, click “Add”
    • type the key you want to run this Action (I’m using comma: “,” )
    • Hit Close.

2. Map Those Beats

  • Pull your recorded track into REAPER.
  • Listen and pick an approximate baseline tempo (you could use these scripts, but I feel like it’s faster to just tap into a metronome).
  • Add a tempo marker at the beginning of the track in this baseline tempo.
  • Set gridlines to something sensible that you want to map — I mean, quarter notes, probably. (Right-click on REAPER’s Grid Lines button, then hit the “…line spacing” dropdown.
  • Play the track; pause and hold the mouse over the beat in the waveform, then hit your keyboard shortcut to snap gridlines into place. aren’t lined up with the track.

I’m often able to do this only for downbeats (or even less often for tracks recorded with click), but it’s crazy fast and flexible even if I have to do all the beats within a measure. Part of the magic of this SWS action is that it will preserve the position of later markers, so you can tweak beats within a measure without ruining everything down the line.

Like magic. Happy beatmapping!

Notes and Findings: Sunday, October 25, 2020

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On October 25, 2020

In Findings

The Mediterranean Bakery is absolutely one of my favorite things in Alexandria.

Our bottomless portafilter arrived (shipped from the UK, so it took a bit) and it is amazing! Messy (I’m working on my tamping), but immediate improvement in flavor.

Cooking that chipotle powder got, uh, a little crazy.

Notes and Findings: Thursday, October 22, 2020

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On October 22, 2020

In Findings

Today’s scale: F# Mixolydian.

Interesting: https://www.concarbo.com/product/harp-small-tulip-style-cello-tailpiece-black-paint/ (The maker got a compelling shoutout that I happened to see in the Internet Cello Society group). I’ve used a cheap plastic tailpiece for a long time, at my luthier’s recommendation–they’re light and resonate well–but I have been curious about lengthening the lower strings..)

Today’s favorite practice bit: a leisurely review of the Haydn C, letting the tone shaping develop. (Listen to Wispelwey play the 2nd movement with Florilegium; it’ll change your life.)

The cello “as an object in cosmic orbit” — Tenebrae is absolutely as much fun as we expected.

(I do like Golijov’s expressive markings. I remember some particular favorites from the cello part for Lua Descolorida, where he name-checks Jordi Savall and suggests that our pizz. should sound like “velvet bells.”)

Elsewhere, as my luthier friend Christina Wan put it, “these Icelanders are making incredible sound waves”: https://www.sonoluminus.com/store/epicycleii

(And Sono Luminus looks like an incredible place to record.)

Music Mentioned in Matt Haig’s How to Stop Time

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On October 21, 2020

In Music

I’m keeping a running list, as I reread How to Stop Time, of every time Matt Haig references music. I love how woven it is into the story, and how he writes about it.

Fair warning! There are likely to be some spoilers here, so, y’know, read the book first.

Will update (and clean this up) as I go:

  • Dowland, “Come again, sweet love doth now invite”
  • “lute music” in general
  • Sweet Georgia Brown (on piano, specifically)
  • Tchaikovsky 6th Symphony
  • Billie Holiday
  • Tom references “my sea shanty Spotify playlist”
  • Don Henley, “The Boys of Summer”
  • References to do with Tom’s mother:
    • “the poignant French chansons Maman used to sing…the sad, nostalgic ones”
    • “an air de cour” (singing while playing lute, “her fingers running fast across the strings as if escaping something”)
    • she was “as comforted by singing a secular chanson as by a prayer”
  • “Eighteen ninety-one. Tchaikovsky. Harlem. Hot Dogs. Champagne. Ragtime”
  • Tom mentions the electric keyboard as an invention that’s simultaneously good and bad
  • Hendrich lists the piano as a key invention within their lifetimes, and music as one of life’s key pleasures
  • Hendrich gives Tom tickets to “Tchaikovsky. Tonight. The Music Hall. Hottest ticket in town,” and of course they go, noting Carnegie in the audience. Tchaikovsky (“a frail-looking man with an intense expression and thinning hair”) conducts. [I love this scene so much…Haig goes on to imagine Tchaik 4…I don’t think 4 was performed on the real programs Tchaikovsky presented in Carnegie Hall, but it is SO perfect for the moment in the book, and so lovely in Haig’s description both of the music and of what it does to Tom…I won’t spoil all that description here, but it’s amazing and you need to read it. Now. Even if you’ve read it before. Go read it again and come back.] (Incidentally and a little off-topic–though it gets at the way Haig describes Tchaikovsky–I like real-life Tchaikovsky’s diary entries about how nervous he was in these New York concerts…)
  • Hendrich on Tchaikovsky, “‘He pisses over Brahms from a mountain, don’t you think?'”
  • Tom’s heart beats “a frenzied jazz rhythm” while teaching
  • Tom runs with his mother’s lute
  • “Pipes. Singing. Mayhem” in 1599 London, then “A fiddler. A piper. A flautist…playing ‘Three Ravens’.”
  • Rose: “‘You have no food but you are worried about a lute.'” and “‘A boy playing the lute! They will rain pennies on you.'”
  • Tom playing in Bankside: “some French chansons,” then “English songs and ballads.” “I played best when I closed my eyes.” Later “singing a madrigal to a large pre-theatre crowd.”
  • Tom giving Grace lute lessons: Greensleeves, The Sweet and Merry Month of May. Then teaching Rose: “‘Music is about time…it is about controlling time.'” Rose: “‘We are all the strings, aren’t we?'” and “‘A kiss is like music. It stops time…'”
  • [to be continued!]

Notes and Findings: Tuesday, October 20, 2020

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On October 21, 2020

In Findings

Here are a couple of dark roasts I’ve had that really taste like the dark roast advertising copy we all see from time to time (smoky, rich, chocolatey, etc.): Mayorga Muy Macho; Ruta Maya’s Decaf Dark Roast (all the more amazing given that it’s decaf).

And from our usual daily Chemex, I love the Mayorga Mayan Blend ground fine and poured slowly.

(It’s been a little bit since I’ve had Corvus, but they’re amazing…also, from the roasts I’ve had, lighter-roasted, so pour slowly…)

While we’re talking beverages, Asahi beer makes an excellent beer bread, and it doesn’t seem to matter if the beer is flat.

I was greedy and burned my mouth testing this Grilled Corn with Miso Butter, hot off the grill. Amazing. Worth it.

We’ve started using Paprika for recipe management — they get so many things right in terms of clean interface, clever automation. Good shopping list. Great sync between devices. Fun.

Menu planning does feel just like concert programming — musicians and chefs are cut from similar cloth.

We must soon try Yotam Ottolenghi’s Roasted Chicken with Clementines & Arak.

Notes and Findings: Thursday, October 15, 2020

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On October 15, 2020

In Findings

The FT’s Culture Call has always been a brilliant podcast, and I am genuinely excited about the new season. Where does culture go next? That’s the central mystery animating @lilahrap‘s inquiries; she’s a smart guide into the unknown that we all face.

(How, in this context, to define “culture?” Working, basic, draft from me: crafted emotional experience, shared by enough people that we can talk about it.)

I’m also thrilled to have connected with composer Frank Horvat, and I’m starting to work on a couple of pieces from his Music for Self-Isolation. The pieces are clever and beautiful and contained–adding up to an incredible body of work.

The Pan American Symphony has announced a Salvadorean composers competition.

Meantime, in my cello teaching, I find that a visual hint at where the octaves fall is a tremendous help for students starting their scale practice.

Notes and Findings: Wednesday, October 14, 2020

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On October 14, 2020

In Findings

Redundant systems and backups are vital for anything that matters.

Alas, Dr. Leana Wen indicates that gatherings with friends and extended family are driving the latest COVID-19 surge.

The Alexandria Health Department sounds similar notes of caution in their Halloween 2020 recommendations. My favorite line (regarding haunted forests, which they do not recommend): “If screaming will likely occur, greater distancing is advised.”

We’ve finally found some quaternary ammonium compounds! ALDI had their normal disinfectant wipes (one per customer). And we found a gallon jug of OdoBan concentrate in Home Depot.

And…looks like it’s time to order that bottomless portafilter we’ve been thinking about. Better flavor, more crema, not broken:

Notes and Findings: Tuesday, October 13, 2020

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On October 13, 2020

In Findings

Mars was wildly bright–even here in the city–in the southeastern sky when I walked out my door this evening. (It’s at opposition.)

Matt Haig’s Midnight Library is changing lives. I love how he writes about music; more on that to come.

Anders Norén makes some lovely WordPress Themes. (As you see, I’m using one here called “Lovecraft.” Unmodified so far, except I swapped the header image for a celphone snapshot of Huntley Meadows Park, this mid-August, late in the day.)

I’m every time astonished at the amount of dust I have to empty from the Roomba tank. (A sort of selection bias, I guess…)

The sheet music for Golijov’s Tenebrae (“version II for string quartet” … and I do particularly like the Avalon recording) has arrived! I’m excited to start looking at the cello part.

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