Dragnet Fugue ("Fugue for Friday")

[Han321654]

So, Steven, would you let me put this up on my Celebrating Bach website for original music inspired by or based on Bach's music? It could also go up on Fresh Age Music which is for simillar original classical, neo-baroque... etc. They both are still under some construction.

[smalin]

@Han321654 Sure, go ahead. You might want to check out the latest version (which has a real string quartet, in concert, as opposed to the synthesized brass of this version).

[Rozsaphile]

Two years have gone by, and has anybody bothered to credit the original source? The Dragnet radio and TV music was composed by Walter Schumann, but he derived the famous motif from Miklos Rozsa's 1946 film score for THE KILLERS. Both composers are deceased now, but I'm sure they would have enjoyed this development.

[smalin]

@Rozsaphile Thanks; I've added a reference and a link to the FAQ.

[davkilla101]

Very good job. One question though, is it possible to add trills and mordants into the music animation machine (I'm asking due to seeing the trill at measure 25 if i counted correctly)?

[smalin]

@davkilla101  The animation is generated from a MIDI file; if that file has trills in it, the animation will.

[davkilla101]

@smalin Ah ok, that's what i wanted to know, it's nice that the animation is able to do that.

[cultwho]

I wish there was an option for Youtube settings to be so that videos did not autoplay (where you have to click play after a page loads) I accidentally had two tabs running and it sounded cool at first (as if it were a spiritually moving song) but then I thought a heard god saying to me "Fugue!" and I was sad. Luckily I realized that one tab playing does not say Fugue to me, but multi tab players sometimes do

[Anathiron]

in the first bar there's a rest missing. there should be 3 quarter notes, but there are just 2 (sorry for the bad english, my "musical english" is very poor xD)

[Mahlercougar]

Excellent work! As A fugue nut myself It was well done.

Your first bar.. is it a pick up ? because you are missing a beat if thats the case. your Meter is 3/4 but in measure 1 you only have 2 beats and it sounds like you have a rest after the first 4 notes of your motif.

keep up the good work!

[smalin]

@Mahlercougar There's a space where the third beat (a quarter note rest) should be shown. I have no idea why it didn't end up in the video --- it's in the score.

[Mahlercougar]

@smalin Ohhhh  I see.. Thank you for the correction. I think All the fugue people like us should have our own channel where we all can post our fugues and exchange methods/talk about what we are doing :)

I have a few fugues that I have and Id like to post them and get opinions/suggestions.. etc

Thanks for posting :)

[mbrsart]

Great fugue!

[Michael6504]

I think this is what Rebecca tried to copy in her song. She failed miserably. Poor girl

[Fukamikami]

Fuge for Friday???

oh no.

FRIDAY FRIDAY GONNA GO OUT ON FRIDAY

[RemiStJacques]

Can you tell me how do you put those bar graph of Music animation machine on youtube? I would like to be able to do that with my compositions too.

[smalin]

@RemiStJacques See the FAQ.

[RemovdSande11]

great fugue there. Do you also compose original music?

[smalin]

@RemovdSande11 Yes.

[Banner4real035]

This is great!  It musically describes the essence of this timeless series. Thanks so much for composing and posting it!

[TheVladdracula1]

THE MUSIK OF GRAF VLAD DRACULA!! BARON DE TEPES!!!

[seeleyangel1]

Smalin, I'm working on idea for an animated piece, where a few seconds of your Dragnet Fugue would work fine. Can I contact you?

[jquinnwoods]

Nicely done! Could go a little faster, though

[smalin]

@jquinnwoods Listen to the string quartet version (that I posted more recently).

[TheMrSpam]

there's a mystery to be solved...

[felipemp93]

"The piece has been played by various ensembles including the San Francisco Saxophone Quartet and The New Esterhazy Quartet..."

WOW!

[claus93Sethsen]

wonderfull :)

[AmadeusStatisitician]

AWESOME LOL

[AndyRehfeldt]

People are calling me a musical genius, but this is true genius.

[smalin]

@AndyRehfeldt Trust me, I'm not a genius.

[KiyoKenshin]

wow, if it sounds this cool on brass, then imagine how it would sound on clarinets!

[smalin]

Spoken like a true clarinet player.

Actually, what I'm thinking about now is: what would it sound like with me playing it on a string quartet (like on my latest videos) ...

[TheRealBlackTiger]

Very impressive - do you have an iTunes-compatible version of this? I'm broke, but I'd consider paying SOMETHING for a set of these...

[smalin]

I'm told there's software out there that lets you download audio from YouTube videos and save them as MP3s ...

[TonicSolFa]

So was this a project for a music theory class or did you just do it for fun?

[smalin]

A little of both. When I was in college, I was really into fugues, and I took the "Canon and Fugue" course in the music department. Right after that, I wrote this. But it was fun, too! The next year, the guy who normally taught the course (and who was much better at it, really loved fugues) returned from sabbatical, and I took it again with him. After he died, I wrote another fugue (in the same key) dedicated to him (Stanley Krebs); it's on YouTube too.

[TonicSolFa]

very nice. I hate when good theory teachers go on sabbatical.... one of ours that studied with Nadia Boulanger just came back from his.

You went to UC Berkley? I'm all the way on the other side of the country. My entire school is a music deparment.

[smalin]

I worked as a rehearsal pianist at UC Berkeley, but I got my degree at UC Santa Barbara (my home town).

[platmosic]

cool fugue, and nice animation to show uses of canon and inversion!

[WSenator1]

I love this. Very creative. Props to the composer!

[smalin]

:-)  Thanks!

[regcom]

The dragnet theme being played in inversion during the pedal followed by the extremely baroque ornamentation in the cadence at the end always, always makes me smile. Thank you for making this.

[goboenomo]

If I may recommend one... I'd love to see Prokofiev's Toccata.

[joys4peace]

Oh wow. I heard the first few notes of this and started laughing, as I had the playlist on a separate window than I was on. Now, though, the music is just gorgeous. Has anyone ever told you you're really talented?

[smalin]

Thanks!

[refman2002]

Do you know if I can get any low brass parts for this song?

[Guyzo997]

are the sounds electronic versions of instruments?

[smalin]

Both; they are computer-enhanced playbacks of sounds recorded from real instruments (samples).

[Rasmoujinaltann]

I wish I wrote it my self.

[Rasmoujinaltann]

Excellent! A very good fugue!

[KameronID]

Is that a trombone in the tenor clef?

[smalin]

Alto clef, and ... uh, let me check ... hmm, I don't seem to have the score any more ... it might be either french horn or trombone.

[deadly990]

fantastic.

[planetar4564]

Wonderful!

[improvelectronic]

Beautifully done! Congratulations, Stephen.

[smalin]

Thanks, Richard.

[progressivelife]

wow!!!

[prince06mits]

ABSOLUTELY INGENIOUS! I am floored!  this is original?!

[smalin]

see the FAQ

[sailingforde04]

Now I have absolutely GOT to try this out on the Organ - I'll post the result : )

[smalin]

Please do!

[sailingforde04]

I sure will : )

[mattz1010]

Did anything come of this?

[sailingforde04]

Actually it is ; but I am still working on configuring an appropriate part for the pedal keyboard !

[moffbombadil]

Absolutely fantastic! This sounds like the theme song for a version of "Dragnet" set in Edwardian London, perhaps featuring one of Joe Friday's ancestors as a Chief Inspector in service of His Majesty.

[FutureCanadaBlue]

@moffbombadil It was Saturday May 28, we were working Early Turns out of Murder Squad. My offsider's name is DS Frank Smythe, the guv'nor is Commander Browne. My name's DCI Friday.

[alejandro954]

Excellent!!!!

[marchesano]

Those links to teh score don't work!!

[smalin]

Oops, you are so right ... fixed now.

[zippysaysyow]

Hi. Nice composition.

Just a little thing, there is a quater note rest missing at the end of the first measure. You played it all right, but its not written.

[smalin]

Omigod, you're right.

I can't believe I didn't notice that.

You get the prize for good eyes.

[zippysaysyow]

Thanxalot.

I have played bass in a baroque recorder quartet for 12 jears. So I kind of got used to fugues. Looking and listening at yourself and the others at the same time was essential to not get lost in there.

I stumbled across the Scarlatti two years ago an am following your exellent stuff ever since. You really dont stop, do you?

Keep it up. Great work.

[smalin]

...You really dont stop, do you?...

Oh, I stop a lot ... but so far, I start again. I hope to do a lot more in the future. Wish me luck.

[D1SH3Y]

fugues overtures whats it all about save me the trip to wikepedia :P

[ClassenGuitars]

its so great to see other composers on youtube.

check out my channel!

my teacher arranged copland's hoe down for 4 guitars.

our school ensemble is playing it :)

[TheIndividualOne]

i just love fugues..

[PerrrfictKats]

The "OLD WIG" i.e. J.S.B. Would have APPROVED!!

[Diachron]

Genius.

[GMJ7]

What a superb fugue.

I am studying music in college and am very interested in fugal theory. I've perused "The Study of Fugue" by Mann and various other textbooks on counterpoint, imitation, etc. However, I still find myself stumped when it comes to cobbling together a fully-fledged and, hardest of all, INTERESTING fugue. Do you have any theory source recommendations for a young composer such as myself?

Thanks. :)

[smalin]

>What a superb fugue.

Thanks!

>Do you have any theory source recommendations ... ?

Sorry, no. I mean, I've read a lot about fugues, but the only thing I can remember seeing in a book that wasn't obvious by studying the music itself was the theory of invertible counterpoint at intervals other than the octave, which I've never used.

[smalin]

>cobbling

This word suggests that you're thinking of it as a painstaking, one-decision-at-a-time kind of thing. I think of it more as a matter of fluency. To write an interesting fugue, you need to be aware of many possibilities at each point along the way, so that an interesting possibility is always available. If you'd like some suggestions on how to develop this, email me (you can get my email address at my web site).

[ArvaF]

If you like counter points, check out Gentle Giant. They're a very unusual band.

[vivian2nana]

Wow, this is very cool!

And you wrote this??????!!!!! You are a genius!

[smalin]

You don't have to be a genius to write a fugue --- just persistent. If you start writing fugues now, then when you are my age, you will be better than me at it. Seriously; it's a skill.

[pianogirl98]

I would like to let you know that this piece and it's video was my little sister Sabrina's very favorite when you first posted it on YouTube.

We love it!

[7papaverirossi]

SOLUZIONE CONSIAGLIATA PER INSEGARE AI GIOVANI, LA MUSICA NELLE SCUOLE ITALIANE, ..... MEDITATE GENTE...MEDITATE... PER CORTESIA ...MEDITATE,

Grazie

[theaaroneason]

Very nice.

[Necrokutan]

Wow, you composed all of those on that site in your comment? That's pretty impressive.. I just realized that I'm an idiot- I clicked on this from my subscribe list and said "hey... This sounds like dragnet!" ...Yeah.

[MitZulina]

Omg u wrote that?? I really thought it was like an 18th century fugue- its awesome :P

[Programmer780]

I concur

[michelles903]

Very nice video :)

[atharoth]

Gratulations! Very nice, sounds like Bach :)

[LazyBastard69]

Sound really good. and funny idea to write a fuge about that theme.

[Ychiduodumat]

nice fugue!

[Jtking3000]

its thursday :L

[saladshootavvv]

lol!

[smalin]

Just you wait!

[ixkey]

Bravo!

[smalin]

Danke.