Location (grandparent | parent | this page): RodMer Arts Home Page | Rod's Music | Minor Suite Program Notes

If you've already read the program notes immediately below, or want to skip them for now, you can click --> to be taken immediately to the MP3 and MIDI files.

Table of Contents (TOC) of these Program Notes

• The Basics
  • Introduction
  • Instrumentation
  • Duration
  • Titles
  • First performances
  • Second performance
  • Third performance
  • Performers in Buenos Aires
  • Computer performers (when human ones are absent)
  
  
• Structure notes
  
  
• MP3 and MIDI files
  
• Score package
  

The Basics

Introduction

Instrumentation

Duration

Titles

• Minor PlayTime
  • As noted above, Minor Playtime was written in honour of the wedding of Merike's daughter Valerie and Val's husband Walker (who, at the time, played guitar and flute respectively -- and what other way is there to play them? -- when not otherwise engaged in philosophical academe). The title refers to its modest size (only 1-1/2 minutes), playful character, the fact that play is usually (though wrongly) reserved for children (minors) -- and, of course, to its minor key (A Minor).
    
• Hill 60 Skip
  • This short little 'skip' is named after the glacial drumlin (Hill 60) on which we live (looking south over Lake Ontario) which, in turn, I believe, was named after a First World War battle near Ypres. Or then again it might simply be a reference to the Persian sexagemsimal numbering system?
    
• Take The Whole Cow
  • The title comes (rather obscurely) from the motif quoted in the 9th and 10th measures of the flute (and again a couple of times later on). This motif is the opening of "Ta Elagu", the Estonian equivalent of "Happy Birthday". But in Swedish the words sound like "Ta Hela Ko", which means "take the whole cow". When my Estonian-born wife spent her early childhood in Sweden, the Swedish neighbours always wondered why this Estonian family sang about cows at birthdays. Alternatively, you can view the name as simply reflecting a rural Ontario viewpoint?

First performances

Second performance

February 8, 1998 at the Art Gallery of Northumberland (in Cobourg, ON, Canada)
As part of a mini-concert accompanying the walking tour of the Merike Lugus sculpture show Transient States

Flute: Fred Cory (of Cobourg)
Guitar: Ed Hoad (of Port Hope)

Third performance

A third performance was given (again with Fred Cory on flue and Ed Hoad on guitar) at the Bamboo Club in Toronto on April 14, 1998 as part of the launch of Merike Lugus's new book of poetry Ophelia After Centuries of Trying.

Performers in Buenos Aires

One day in February 2004 I received the following email:

        Hi Mr. Anderson
        We're from Buenos Aires, Argentina, my name is Diego Spinelli, 
        flutist, and Fernando Schulmeier, guitarrist, composer.

        We have a duo with fl & gtr, and play a lot of music, some pieces
        of popular music, like tangos, or others of argentine composers, and 
        arrangements of south american music, and other chamber works, and 
        music of Fernando Schulmeier to.

        I've download your "Minor Suite" for fl & gtr. and now we're playing
        it. We like ir very much, it's a very beautifull piece, and we're 
        happy to play it.

        If you want any information of us, send me a mail and we'll be so 
        glad to sent to you.

        Affectuosly
        Diego Spinelli

        PS.: Sorry for my basic english.

Well, isn't the Internet wonderful? Of course, I replied immediately and sent them copies of the printed scores. And they in turn sent me some CDs of their performances. Fernando Schulmeier is an accomplished composer and well beyond my league. But it's wonderful to have the association. More recently Diego is thinking of performing my "Song No. 3 for Merike" (soprano, piano, and flute) with some friends.

Computer performers (when human ones are absent)

Like all the MIDI files here, it is in General MIDI form. The General MIDI patches (on the 0-127 numbering system) are:

	Part	General MIDI patch
		name	#
	Flute	Flute	73
	Guitar	Acoustic Guitar (nylon)	24

How they sound will depend on your own playback software.

On my own synth I used the following patches:

	Part	Sound Module	Patch
			name	#
	Flute	Roland JV880	Flute/Picc from Orchestral Expansion Board (OEB)	90
	Guitar	Roland JV880	Classical Guitar from OEB	185

These are what you hear on the mp3 files.

Back to TOC

---

Structure notes

I		Minor Playtime
	1	Intro
	7	Theme
	13	Variation
	21	Variation
	30	Coda
II		Hill 60 Skip
	1	Intro
	9	Theme
III		Take The Whole Cow
	1	Intro
		introducing 3 motifs -- the first a decorative flute pattern from the final variation; the second, a flute motif towards the end of the main theme (from which the cow name comes); the third, the guitar counter melody (which becomes Theme 2)
	20	Theme 1 (in A Minor)
	36	Bridge
	44	Theme 1a - with more flourishes by the flute
	60	Bridge (including the first intro motif again)
	75	Theme 2 (in E Minor) -- based on the guitar counter melody
	91	Bridge
	101	Theme 1b (in A Minor)
		-- with the flute flourishes plus an additional rhythmic pattern in the guitar
	117	Coda

Back to TOC

---

MP3 and MIDI files
(Click on icons below to play MIDI and/or download MP3 files)

Year	Title ... Instrumentation ...... Excerpts	Min: Sec	Complete MP3 files (better sound)** file size	MP3 file extracts (better sound)** file size	Complete MIDI file (not as good sound but quick)**
	The complete piece:
1994	Minor Suite ... a suite of 3 flute & guitar duets	6:19	4.3 MB
	How the MIDI file sounds depends, of course, on your playback mechanism. On my computer, MIDI files are played by the QuickTime PlugIn and the flute is OK but doesn't sound quite breathy enough; the guitar is OK. In comparison, the mp3 file (recorded from my sound-module patches) sounds better. Of course, if you have a synthesizer, you can download the MIDI file and set the instruments to your own preferred patches -- but that's more work than downloading the complete mp3 file.
	Short excerpts:
	...... I - Minor Playtime (opening)	0:34		0.3 MB
	This is the opening of the first section ("Minor Playtime"). It's marginally better than the MIDI file.
	...... II - Hill 60 Skip (opening)	0:25		0.2 MB
	This is the opening to the second section ("Hill 60 Skip"). Again, it's marginally better than the MIDI file.
	...... III - Take The Whole Cow (closing)	0:37		0.4 MB
	This is ending of the third and final section ("Take the Whole Cow"). Again, it's marginally better than the MIDI file.

** If you have a high-speed connection, forget about the MIDI files and just use the MP3 files (better). If you have a dial-up connection, consider the faster (but not as good) MIDI file only if the MP3 files seem to be taking too long to play or download.

Back to Top

---

Score Package
(Click on icons below to download pdf and rtf files)

Year	Title ... Instrumentation	Description	No. of score pages	Score (pdf file) file size	No. of text pages	Text (rtf file) file size
1994	Minor Suite ... a suite of 3 flute & guitar duets	notes			4	4 KB
	-- I Minor Playtime ... 1st duet	Complete score *	3	0.1 MB
	-- II Hill 60 Skip ... 2nd duet	Complete score *	4	0.1 MB
	-- III Take the Whole Cow ... 3rd duet	Complete score *	11	0.2 MB
	* email me if you would like any part extractions

(you will need the free Stuffit Expander for decompressing the rtf.sitx files)
Back to Top

---

http://www.rodmer.com/RodMusic/ProgramNotes/MinorSuiteNotes.html -- Revised Jul 28, 2005
Copyright © 1997-2005 Rod Anderson
rod@rodmer.com

---

[ About | What's New | Rod's Music | RodMer Home | Links | Help ]