The Pink Panther Theme
by Henry ManciniHere are some MIDI files that I've created. Several were done to help my sons when they were younger with their flute and clarinet practice, so those are the featured instruments. I'm sorry they're all a bit old, but I've not spent much time playing with MIDI for a few years now, even though I now have a full-size, touch sensistive keyboard. I leave the sequencing to Tim these days!
The Pink Panther Theme
by Henry ManciniThis was one of my first, and probably most ambitious MIDI projects.
The Mancini classic was arranged by Henry Mancini himself for James Galway
and features solo flute. I played all the parts in by hand, including the
drums, but used a good deal of cutting and pasting in the repeated bits.
It's still not finished properly - there are various sections of brass
and rhythm missing.
Wallace & Gromit's March
by Julian NottThe tune was written by Julian Nott for the Nick Park animations. The
arrangement here is the simplest one and is taken from A Grand Day
Out, Wallace & Gromit's first adventure. I played most of it in
myself from the keyboard. Tim gave me some help with the drums. I spent hours
rewinding the tape and playing it back at half speed to get the clarinet
solo right.
The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave feature more extensive
arrangements, which I might get round to sequencing one day.
Picture:
Aardman Animations.
A
Touch of Blues by Gerald MartinThis is one I made to help Matthew with his clarinet practice. It comes from a collection called The Joy of the Clarinet, published by Yorktown Press, ISBN 0-7119-0119-8, part of an excellent series of music books with graded pieces for players at all stages. Again it's all played in by hand from the keyboard.
Madcap
by Christopher NortonThis comes from Microjazz for Clarinet 2 by Christopher Norton, part of a world famous series of music for teaching and especially for fun. Published by Boosey & Hawkes. Hand played throughout, but the drums were cut and repeat pasted.
From a collection called Summer Music, published by Novello, ISBN 0-85360-197-6. Richard Rodney Bennett is one of today's leading composers in the classical field, and is equally at home performing jazz in cabaret. This flute piece is marked as Grade VII and I sequenced it to help Tim with his practice and me to get the hang of the changes in metre. The intro and the bit in the middle are sequenced from the computer keyboard, the rest is played in by hand. I think I've made it a bit too fast according to the tempo marking of 58 - see what you think.
Cotton Bolls(1901) by Chas H.
HunterChas Hunter was a blind piano tuner from Tennessee. His rags have a sort-of down home folk song feel to them. Like Joseph Lamb, who was to follow, Hunter was a white man, but with a feel for the black music of ragtime and the native folk music of Nashville, his home town. Cotton Bolls is the most haunting of Hunter's rags and I tried to give a feel of this in my hand played MIDI file. My first version of this file was a bit disappointing, due to the limitations of my MIDI input devices. Fortunately, I was able to borrow a Yamaha Clavinova for an afternoon and recorded this piece using it. This is the unedited, warts-and-all version, which I've not yet had time to edit. The edition I used is Classic Piano Rags from Dover Publications Inc, ISBN 0-486-20469-3, with an introduction by Rudi Blesh.
Slippery Elm Rag(1912) by Clarence WoodsClarence Woods from Carthage was a brilliant white pianist who put greater emphasis on performing rather than composing. Fortunately for us, he has left a few published compositions. Slippery Elm, unusually for rags, is marked to be played very quietly. It is a three-strain rag with an unusual Trio section and a reprise of the second strain to end. This rag is also included in the Classic Piano Rags from Dover Publications Inc, ISBN 0-486-20469-3, used above. Again this was played on a Yamaha Clavinova.
Ragtime Oriole(1912) by James ScottJames Scott is one the three 'Kings of Ragtime', along with Scott Joplin and Joseph Lamb. Although some years Joplin's junior, the two became friendly at the time Joplin was moving to Kansas City. Rudi Blesh describes Scott as "Liszt to Joplin's Chopin". Scott's rags are more technically brilliant than Joplin's, making full use of the range and dynamics of the piano. Scott continued to publish rags into the 1920s, well after fashion had moved on to the new-fangled Jazz. He formed a dance band and played the organ for the silent cinema. He was still writing rags - unpublished and now lost forever - until he died in 1938.
This is another rag from Classic Piano Rags Dover Publications Inc, ISBN 0-486-20469-3. This was the third rag I was able to record on the Yamaha Clavinova and unfortunately is the one needing the most editing.
The late John Roache's ragtime MIDI library
George Bogatko's pages
'Perfessor' Bill Edwards Ragtime Pages
Warren Trachtman's MIDI file page