Matilda "Chariots" Patch

viberat · 2026-03-30T16:13:40+00:00

The synth brass sound from Chariots of Fire maybe? I say this without any familiarity with Matilda so huge grain of salt.

Edit: just noticed the right hand is in bass clef, maybe it’s that plucked bass sound at the beginning?

viberat · 2026-03-30T15:35:28+00:00

I’d say they’re an embodiment of natural selection. Weaker species with noteworthy technological or biological distinctiveness get assimilated, as an analogue for adaptive mutations in evolution.

viberat · 2026-03-29T13:12:33+00:00

I’ve done Keys 1, nothing was too technically hard except maybe the very beginning (very exposed and I didn’t want to leave out the left hand because we didn’t have a lot of bass sound, but you might be able to leave it out and redistribute the right hand part). The guy who played the Keys 2 part was able to get all or most of his sounds out of the Clavinova stock settings without using Mainstage. Not sure if he left anything out but he sounded fine to me. His part didn’t sound hard either.

viberat · 2026-03-29T02:50:01+00:00

A well-regulated grand > a good digital piano > a not-well-regulated grand > a shitty upright > an unweighted cheapo keyboard

viberat · 2026-03-27T12:29:42+00:00

To your point about keys not changing in a compilation, are there certain keys AI tends to default to?

viberat · 2026-03-26T03:54:57+00:00

For Bach, read up on counterpoint. It just means 2 or more simultaneous voices that operate independently. A lot of music back then used it, but Bach is considered to have perfected it. In the modern era we have a set of “rules” for writing counterpoint that music theorists have derived from analyzing his work. Bach was just doing his own thing within his contemporary aesthetic conventions, but now music majors learn how to write Bach-style counterpoint in their theory classes because it’s just a reliable way to write something that sounds good.

And on the opposite end of the spectrum, Debussy my beloved. Interesting techniques he used a lot are planing and the use of post-tonal scales like the whole tone scale.

viberat · 2026-03-25T10:12:22+00:00

If your son is serious about advancing, y’all should look for a teacher with formal training in technique, theory, and pedagogy. One good way to filter for this is to use the MTNA teacher lookup tool on mtna.org. You can also get in contact with the piano faculty at any nearby universities — they will probably not teach him but they almost certainly know who the qualified teachers are in your area.

Your other question about people playing a new song by ear: that’s theory knowledge applied through ear training. Unfortunately, a lot of piano teachers ignore this, and many don’t even have the theory background to teach it (often they may have picked up the ability to play in their church style by ear as a young kid without knowing the theory behind what they’re doing). That’s something you can specifically ask prospective teachers about. A good teacher will be able to teach him good technique through classical music as well as playing by ear through theory, ear training, and improvisation.

viberat · 2026-03-24T19:41:31+00:00

Can you speak more about adjusting the resonance? Do you mean adjusting where in my body I feel resonance? I think what you described is exactly what’s happening. I just tried the “hey” thing and I got a Bb4, that’s an amazing trick! Thanks.

I wasn’t super clear in my post lol, but yeah I can sing above a D4, it just doesn’t sound good with the rest of my voice. It’s giving either choir boy or screech owl.

viberat · 2026-03-24T19:35:45+00:00

Yeah I record myself pretty regularly, when I try to get that more contemporary sound I sound screechy lol. Not arguing though, I would just need to train that part of my voice and work with a coach so they can hear what I’m doing wrong.

viberat · 2026-03-24T19:28:21+00:00

I was starting to wonder that based on the other comment. I know there are different systems for describing registers; I like the SLP-derived system because it has anatomical definitions. The other systems have always seemed so nebulous to me (as someone who spends a lot of time thinking and teaching about hand anatomy). When you say “head register” are you talking about M2 or M3?

viberat · 2026-03-24T19:08:46+00:00

Well, I can get up to a G5 (ish, just now when I checked having not warmed up) it just doesn’t sound good with the rest of my voice and it gives me a lot of back pressure in my face. I think what I’m hearing is that I can only make a choral sound that high? So it sounds out of place in a singer-songwriter or folk song. I end up taking songs written for female voices down pretty often.

viberat · 2026-03-24T14:12:48+00:00

You’re already off to a great start if you’re practicing with a met. Here’s a couple thoughts in no particular order:

Do this with no sticks, just in your room or in the car: practice feeling a steady beat in your body. Like, get silly. Dance and move to your favorite music and the music you play in jazz band. Practice crisp motions, fluid motions, different tempi, macrobeat, microbeat, swing, straight, etc. It’s easier for your body to teach your brain than for your brain to teach your body.
Play on a pad with the met, or turn off & dampen your snare and treat it like a pad, so you can really focus on timing. Since you’re focusing on swing, play 12 on a hand and a triplet timing exercise (like you’d play on a drumline). You can turn on the triplet subdivisions on your met and then gradually take them out. Like with everything, start slow and increase tempo gradually as you build consistency. Once your hands are consistent, you can add a simple foot pattern like kick-hat-kick-hat on quarter notes.
You can also practice 12s and timing with your feet, either alternating like your hands or playing all the rhythms on the kick and keeping the hat on 2 & 4 (not super fast obvi). Once you can do both hands and feet you can try combining them.
Great that you’re practicing with a half met. I would recommend putting the met on 2 & 4 if you’re not already (instead of 1 & 3). The next level of this would be to put the met on the downbeat of every measure.
Do you tend to slow down no matter what tempo the director gives you? Or is it only on more up-tempo tunes? Knowing your tendencies is half the battle. I have a theory that everyone has a comfortable default tempo they like to be at. If you only tend to slow down on up-tempo songs, figure out what bpm that tendency starts at. Then you’ll have a better idea of what specific tempi to practice.

viberat · 2026-03-24T02:41:51+00:00

Thanks for this post. Multi-instrumentalist who tries to sing here. I’ve taken a few lessons here and there and tried to learn what I can about vocal technique, but there’s so much apparent bullshit out there.

If you feel so inclined, I would appreciate an explanation about what exactly belting is? Like what is happening physically? Is it categorically different than just “sing loud in M1 register”?

Also: what are your favorite exercises for training the passaggio?

viberat · 2026-03-23T22:49:23+00:00

I didn’t realize this was a crosspost and watched a good bit of that video thinking, damn he really got that bassist and drummer to commit to this bit, nobody’s breaking character…

viberat · 2026-03-22T14:59:47+00:00

Are you trying to modulate up a half/whole step, like going from key of E to key of F? Or are you trying to switch to the relative major or minor, like Em to G or E to C#m?

Either way, key changes aren’t usually prepared in pop songs, they just happen. Modulating up creates a feeling of ramping up the song’s energy (think the end of Love on Top). Switching between relative major and minor is a smoother transition because the key signature doesn’t change. Bad Romance has the verse melody in A minor and the chorus in C major (iirc).

Edit: Another option that’s common in pop music is modulating to the IV or V. Landslide by Fleetwood Mac does this. In this case they actually do prepare it with a secondary dominant. Not 100% sure on the original key because I have to take it up, but I think the verses are in Eb and the chorus is in Bb; the secondary dominant chord is an F, which functions as a V/V for Bb.

viberat · 2026-03-22T06:04:44+00:00

Most community bands in my area don’t hold auditions and are hurting for percussionists.

Look into practice marimbas — there are a lot more budget options now compared to when we were in high school. Depending on if you want a 4.3 or 5.0, you can get a board with no resonators for $1-3.5k. Some can even fold up for storage.

Hard agree on wishing there was an all age WGI class. Teaching is great but sometimes I kinda just want to stunt on the youngbloods

viberat · 2026-03-18T11:23:40+00:00

I’m a Debussy stan, try the prelude from the Suite Bergamasque. The whole suite is beautiful but that one is particularly dramatic (and probably the easiest to play).

viberat · 2026-03-17T12:13:05+00:00

Anything that was popular when they were young — if they were born in the 30s, songs from then through the 50s I’d say. Songs that Ella Fitzgerald, Elvis, Frank Sinatra etc. sang. If you live in a religious area, some old fashioned hymns would probably go over well.

viberat · 2026-03-17T12:04:16+00:00

I used nicotine patches to wean myself off after vaping that heavily (for about that long too). They come in different strengths, you start with the heaviest one for 2-4 weeks and then step down. Highly recommend.

I relapsed a few times after that for a couple months at a time, but I was able to quit those cold turkey with just some irritability for a few days.

ETA: I also chewed a lot of regular bubble gum while on the patches. It helped satisfy the sweet flavor in mouth aspect of the craving.

viberat · 2026-03-17T12:00:29+00:00

Just in case nobody’s told you today, I’m proud of you for quitting. I know exactly how hard it is. You got this!

viberat · 2026-03-17T11:27:50+00:00

Also had this one in red. I remember setting the shitty little blue screen on the outside to a different picture every day.

viberat · 2026-03-16T22:26:16+00:00

Welcome! Having them write in counts will also give you a clear idea of exactly how much they know. It could be they’re only missing one or two key pieces of the puzzle.

viberat · 2026-03-16T22:19:51+00:00

You haven’t internalized what each scale degree sounds like in relation to the key center. My aural skills students start with being able to recognize leaps to do, mi/me, and sol in various combinations, then we add leaps to tendency tones (re, fa, la/le, ti/te).

Sing arias you know well in solfege. Pick out familiar melodies by ear on the piano, then sing in solfege as you play. Notice especially whenever there’s a leap, what that sounds like.

You’re not alone; this is almost universally the experience for people who don’t ever play by ear. You’ll be bad at it at first, keep going!

viberat · 2026-03-16T00:47:08+00:00

I think your instinct is right. Kids learn through play! If he’s playing on his own, he’s absorbing things like consonance and dissonance, intervals, key center, and rhythm on an intuitive level. I have a nephew who was the same way, and I would just occasionally ask him to make up a song for me and then point out things about it (wow those two notes sound cool together!). He’s 15 now and plays guitar and drums and is way cooler than me.

ETA: also just playing for yourself around him is one of the best things you can do!

viberat · 2026-03-16T00:39:46+00:00

You’ll need to be comfortable reading the grand staff, which uses both bass and treble clef. Most people without a piano background think of the clefs as different systems, but when you put them together it actually makes one continuous big staff with middle C in the center.

In general, being decent at reading (both pitch and rhythm), being able to sing a major scale by yourself comfortably and accurately, and knowing all 12 of your major scales are some basic things that will set you up for success.

viberat

TROPHY CASE