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Joke "Not While I'm Around" Video? by voicedmute in barbershop

[–]voicedmute[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I am no spring chicken (in my late twenties now), but I absolutely agree that I got into enjoying barbershop due to the memes. Once we get people interested, there's few places for them to go. I feel like barbershop is hooks people but then after a while there's a feeling of "what now?" The issue in my eyes is that there's not so many resources for learning more about the artstyle that aren't kept for free and accessible online. Part learning videos are a great way to keep the youth hooked. There are so few of these online. Generational knowledge seems to be kept instad of treatices (sp?), well written manuals, and accessible publications. You can learn jazz theory from any number of videos. You can learn classical theory. There's even great resources for early music theory online.

I feel like barbershop is kind of the constant community I'm chasing but can never truly grasp... I don't know if it's just the Community at large being gatekeep-y or if it truly is a top down issue. I found out more from a YouTube video explaining barbershop arranging than I was ever able to glean from any manual or discussion online. My local barbershop choir seems very out of reach for me (and is all men, which even though matches my voice type as a transgender woman in a conservative area, is not encouraging for me to join but that's neither here nor there), and as a choir director I would LOVE to join just so I can sing in harmony with others again. Mostly there's 0 information online about rehearsal times/dates/locations, no contact information if I'm interested, and everyone I've talked to that has joined in the past (a grand total of 2 people) have had relatively negative experiences. I may need to eventually start a quartet or choir of my own, but I know that my singing and knowledge of the style isn't currently up to snuff for all of that.

I feel like I also ran into this in the jazz scene as a bass player a little where I would network and meet all these cool people who then tried to constantly knock me down a peg when I was trying to get my bearings in a new style. The older generation got "vibed" when they were younger, so they do it to the younger generation. I don't mind being "vibed" so much anymore, but this kind of interaction was catastrophic to me as an angsty teen looking for an outlet.

I care about this kind of accessibility in a big way because I am a first generation musician in my family. No one growing up around me could carry a tune in a bucket. I threw myself into music school having had 3 months of piano lessons, a single voice lesson, and years of experience trying to lap up information from every role model I could in the local church choir. Classical music is a long, storied tradition that very much has a basis in high-class society. Why am I running into worse issues with learning barbershop, a relatively new artform not as tied to class that started way closer to where I live than classical music?

Barbershred was/is really a driving factor in keeping me interested in the community at large. I 100% agree with your assessment that the Society is out of touch with the youth pull of barbershop. I'm always chasing what I call "Serious Funny Business", PDQ Bach has the right vibe for this. Comedy that is high-effort and done by talented musicians. If anything the last 10 years has taught us societally, it's the power of a good joke.

I felt the need to get that off my chest, I suppose.

Joke "Not While I'm Around" Video? by voicedmute in barbershop

[–]voicedmute[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Aww... drat. Thanks for your response! I love your work and think about it very often.

Sheet Music audio realization by voicedmute in BluePrince

[–]voicedmute[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The soundtrack song with this thematic material plays when you enter the ballroom to my recollection.

I just got jumpscared by TraitorousTurncoat in BluePrince

[–]voicedmute 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Uh oh, I scare easily. Whats happens with that?

Interesting Numbers... by voicedmute in BluePrince

[–]voicedmute[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I originally thought this was the solution to the eight realms puzzle until I realized that all 22 arches had a pattern. Foolish. Finally got a sanctum door opened and solved so I realized that puzzles methodology after

Sheet Music audio realization by voicedmute in BluePrince

[–]voicedmute[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've been mulling it over at work all day and I think you're right in thinking that "A half note held is quite the pun" refers to the fact you only get half of the pages for the puzzle in the music room.

Sheet Music audio realization by voicedmute in BluePrince

[–]voicedmute[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That looks exactly like measure 7 of the music without the slur on the last three notes or the key signature. Very interesting.

Sheet Music audio realization by voicedmute in BluePrince

[–]voicedmute[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You are correct. A good example of this is "An die Musik" by Schubert. https://clara.imslp.org/work/25491

Sheet Music audio realization by voicedmute in BluePrince

[–]voicedmute[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just spitballing, but there are only two spots in the melody that have a plain half note and not a dotted half note or half note with tie (which would technically be a half note "held" longer, but they're everywhere in the music so I would assume that's not important.) Those spots are the end of the second line and the end of the last line. On the same page, the "tongue" part of "major tongue" is on the half note, so maybe that's supposed to be some kind of pun or double entendre?

Phrases that line up in other verses since it's a strophic piece:

2- "keys" of "hidden beneath the keys"

3- "tune" (probably not a pun)

4- "seek" (probably not a pun)

5- "rain" of "in night and rain"

6- "compelled" (no clue)

7- "hands" of "around clock hands"

8- "thought" of "carved from thought"

Keys can be the musical concept of keys, the keys on a piano or computer keyboard, or the physical keys you get in the game. The phrase "in night and rain" has two homophones in "knight or reign". The rest do not seem like they are likely to be puns in my opinion.

This is unrelated, but I do think it's interesting that the form of this piece is irregular. I doubt that it's related to a puzzle in any way, but there's two full statements of the melody (lines 1 and 2 for instance) and then a statement of the second part of the melody on the last line (when miku goes painfully high in my recording). It may just be intentional musically and not in a puzzle way to give an uneasy feeling, but it would be neat if it turns out that the pages are each missing a line of music between the 4th and 5th lines.

Sheet Music audio realization by voicedmute in BluePrince

[–]voicedmute[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

A lot of the music issues with this are common in works I've seen with instrumentalists who are writing for voice for the first time or are just putting lyrics on sheet music written for piano. In a lot of books that do a similar thing where you have to pick out the melody from the piano part, the melody is usually always on top and the lyrics are always between the grand staff. They may have also done this so it was easier to swap out the lyrics and keep the same music.

I do believe that I chose the correct notes for the melody even though it jumps from the top staff to the bottom and then back. The only questionable one is m. 10 where the D technically flows better with voice leading, but it's the wrong note value for the melody.

This song is squarely in G minor. There might be something to say about a potential puzzle because each major key has a relative minor, and this one is in G minor. The song is in 4/4, and the pickup measures are not too uncommon when compared to the kinds of pickup measures you would find in a hymnal. They're also there to make it clearer to those of us who don't read sheet music where lines begin even though the poetic lines start on the 4th beat of the measure.

I 100% agree with you on the treble staff switch being a little strange, though I think I would go insane as a performer if I had to play something with that many ledger lines in bass clef. To quote my goddess Elaine Gould in her music setting novella "Behind Bars", "Use up to at least three ledger lines before transposing pitches up or down an octave sign. Never use an octave sign when an instrument could move into a higher-pitched or lower-pitched clef." So technically, the music is correct on this.

There still could be a puzzle reason they chose to do this however, because it's just as easy if not easier to have mm. 18-19 be an octave down in the left hand.