Fugue for Friday ("Dragnet Fugue")

[Shine860530]

wow, that was simply impressive

[bfandreasyt]

This is geeky, dorky and quite, quite wonderful.

Good fun!

[VicodinAddicted]

very good

[PauloZappi]

I think there is a quarter rest missing at the end of the first bar of the viola score. Nice work!

[smalin]

@PauloZappi Ooops, you're right.  I wonder how that happened.

[thatwhichidesire]

Man, don't be offended but you look like Lars Ulrich :)

[kalsikum]

Nice compostion! Wish i could write music like you...

[pmchsaini]

Who wrote this piece?

[smalin]

@pmchsaini  Me (see the FAQ).

[einootspork]

It's funny how some melody fragments just work for fugues and others just don't. This is definitely the former.

[vonzigle]

Creative fugue and some of the best Early Music players in the S.F. Bay area to perform it -- nice!

[BrotonThompson1]

A great use of an old form for a more modern melody.

[mpemusic]

You mentioned Peter S. in the description.  Did he not do a composition very similar to this, using the same theme, and as a fugue, as PDQ? Or am I thinking of one of his quodlibets?

[smalin]

@mpemusic If he did, I don't know about it.

[Timrath]

@mpemusic Perhaps you're thinking of Schickele's fugue on Volga Boatsmen.

[mpemusic]

@Timrath I think you're thinking of what I was thinking... thanks! And it's also possible that I've heard Mr. Malinowski's piece performed somewhere before. Clever piece.

[Gabrielsm8]

i play viola =-)

[remlap]

I love the reaction at 0:20 when someone in the crowd cottons on what it is.

Absolute brilliant.

[MrCuddy2977]

Actually, @smalin … do you do requests … ?

Any chance of the Kronos Quartet’s take on Purple Haze … ?

[jonahansen]

In contemporary vernacular, "That was way cool, dude!" Bravo!

[BuzzDyou]

Another fine example of Stephen's talents, I am so glad that I subscribed to smalin' channel. Par excellance, bar none.. pun intended! Looking forward to more. Thank you so much for sharing these werx with us.

[UberMenschNowFilms]

I bust out laughing every time I hear the first part(0:16-0:19)! My old music teacher in elementary school would play that when the class got out of hand. Very nice again, Smalin!

[williamrmorrison]

A clever and quite beautiful piece...made me smile...

[lucacallegaro]

An excellent composition and a very good performance, and as always the video helps a lot to grasp in a single listening the structure.

[AndyMajia]

You know, I love ur videos that you post, but I really like the old lego like bricks that you used to do in your videos rather than the psychodelic cricles. Personally I think it detracts from the music, but I really wanted to know why you did the transition.

[smalin]

@AndyMajia It's all an experiment. Look at the video of Debussy's First Arabesque, and see if you don't think the circles work well there.

[receivejesusnow]

@AndyMajia i agree!

[Blashyrkh22]

Great arrangement! I love it

[Radeir1]

Bela composição!

[felipemp93]

Wow. Congratz for the composition man!

[athenalover5903]

what does fugue mean?

[williamrmorrison]

@athenalover5903 : Wikipedia has a long article on fugues. "Fuga" is Italian for "flight." The piece begins with a tune or "theme," which is repeated again and again, at higher and lower pitches--they "chase" each other around. Watch the red dots, which make this clear.

[yocreo]

WONDERFUL! THANKS FOR SHARING YOUR AWESOME JOB AND MUSIQUE.

[rodrigofrib]

Love your videos and your compositions.

Keep up the great work!

[questionful]

cool

[polymath7]

Very well done. 1:07 reminds me a bit of Brandenburg 6. ;-)

[smalin]

@polymath7 It was a paraphrase from Brandenburg 3, actually.

[polymath7]

@smalin I've carelessly confused the respective first movements of those two concertos more times than I'd care to admit. It goes back to when I was a teenager.

At any rate, I think you interpolate that passage seamlessly.

[JonathanTheGreat09]

Stephen! You should consider doing an animation of Chopin's Prelude in E Minor Op. 28 No. 4. But you remember the old bar style animation, like from Toccata & Fugue? Well that's the one you should do, I like the look of it the best.

Take care,

Jonathan

[thtiger89]

good...... what program do you use for do the hight part of yours video...?

[smalin]

@thtiger89 It's all custom software I wrote.

[whythewar1]

@smalin Did some research on you, you wrote this right?

[smalin]

@whythewar1 Yes.

[whythewar1]

@smalin You should seriously write more.

[smalin]

@whythewar1 I stopped more than twenty-five years ago.

[whythewar1]

@smalin When did time take away the desire to make music?

[smalin]

@whythewar1 When I started working for a living, I didn't have time to focus on music composition, so I stuck with performance and visualization.

[MatchbookD70]

I joined in with the clapping, too! I couldn't help myself.

[changyunited]

This is amazing. Can't wait for the chopin nocturne!

[scherzoq]

Nice fugue!

[goldenhog]

awesome.

[smalin]

@mindygrahamkrauth  I think it's the voice of one of the violinists.

[claus93Sethsen]

Stephen I wish you would answer this, but I'm interested to know how you learned to compose fugues, conservatory?

[smalin]

@claus93Sethsen I took courses in fugue writing in college (at the University of California at Santa Barbara, taught by Stanley Krebs and somebody who I've forgotten), but the main learning came from studying Bach's music and practicing writing fugues.

[polymath7]

@smalin Krebs? *chuckle* Wouldn't it be amusing if he were some relation to the Krebs who was one of Bach's pupils?

But the latter is spelled "Krebbs" isn't it?

[smalin]

@polymath7 No, they're both spelled the same. Stanley never mentioned being related to the Krebs Bach knew.

[polymath7]

@smalin *grin* Yeah, I just got done checking and came back here to ask again, this time seriously, if you knew if there was any relation.

So you never asked him?

[smalin]

@polymath7 I don't remember asking. I don't even remember whether I knew of the Baroque-period Krebs when I was studying with Stanley (and he died shortly after). I might have asked his daughters if they knew, and if I did, the answer was either no or "I don't know," since I would have remembered "yes."

[browndj3]

That is a very ingenious composition. It's amazing how something from popular culture can be converted into something so beautiful and clever.

[BillBC]

Brilliant!

[ScribbleMouse]

i love music!!!

[PrismLightwave]

You got your piece performed live? Nice!

(In other news, Aurora notices the lack of a quarter rest at the end of the first measure...)

[smalin]

@PrismLightwave Yeah, I don't know what happened to it ...

[wingedtraveller]

A beautiful piece.

[Luke00126]

lol my friend sings the beginning all day long! :D dam, dam, dam, dammm!

[morganhbk]

reminds me of the inspector gadget theme song :P

[metalvocalistwanted]

\\m// (>_<) \\m//

[Cynthia95ish]

You ought to be arrested.

[mano6292]

Awesome

[Hazelrat10]

"A: I wrote this fugue in 1975"

Wow! Did you really?

[smalin]

@Hazelrat10 Yes.

[Hazelrat10]

@smalin That's pretty awesome, I must say.

[LiberateEireIRA]

@Hazelrat10 friggin yeah

[FMota91]

Bravo!

[miiwiiplay]

This is definitely my favorite that you posted =)

[Dinalafont]

me encanta!

[dbc6060]

awesome!

[Chefodeath]

Theres nothing quite like a fugue to make you look at a previously commoncplace melody in a new way

[jeebus022]

awesome!

[simmsmetre]

sweet