Pete Seeger

[Siltharan]

Pete Seeger passed away yesterday at the age of 94. Any chance we could arrange a concert in the next few days, perhaps Sunday evening? We've played much of what we might use for our Valentine's Day concert, and I think it would be a nice touch, a la our Phil Everly tribute. 

[Ice Weasel]

I agree... I just heard of his passing this morning.

There is a HUGE body of work to pull from; Check out this LIST.

I'm game for finding some and doing up versions to test. We did the Everly Tribute within a week of Phil's passing... we can try for the same timing here.  Bree Stage outside the Pony? 

[Siltharan]

Sounds good, at the usual meetup time (9pm server) on Sunday. Now to find MIDIs...

[Siltharan]

Difficult to find good MIDIs, but I put 3 songs together:

Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

Turn, Turn, Turn (Flute part is a bit soft, but it's already at +fff+ and the other instruments have a lot of volume changes... I wish there were a mass editor to turn whole instruments down a full notch where possible. :P)

If I Had a Hammer

Available in my Dropbox, in my Seeger folder: HERE

[Ice Weasel]

Maestro VPitcher works to do whole instruments...   LOTRO-Artists Link

You got the "Big 3" I think... I'll look for some others.

Thoughts on timing? Location?  Maybe a short (20-30 minute) gig?

[Siltharan]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Trying it out now.

Edit: Reuploaded Turn, Turn, Turn with volume tweaked.

[Siltharan]

Maybe we could make a folk concert? Like we did with Phil Everly, similar music and whatnot. Either that, or we keep it short and I go back to retweak all the songs I wasn't fully happy with volume-wise now that I found a new toy. :D

Another point of thought: Should we keep using our typical numbering system, or swap it out for the double-digit one? (i.e. first digit is instrument, second is part number, rather than the other way around with a single digit for only one part)? I saw LBC use that one, and they said it was pretty standard.

[Ice Weasel]

THere's a lot more out there with The Weavers (Seeger's folk group in the 50-70s). I'm working on Lion Sleeps Tonight (Wimoweh), Simple Gifts, Blue Skies, Goodnight Irene, and Michael Row the Boat Ashore... all pretty much iconic Seeger tunes (he wrote some, he performed others). I'd vote for a program of eight tunes, more or less... 

As for the numbering... I think we just use the default for Maestro... which I am not married to, but just was easy to do. LOL... Bri? 

Makes sense, now that I think on it... Instrument "x" part "y" for a part label "xy". I still like getting the number of parts into the filename (as the last character). I'm also in favor of reducing the filenames... omitting vowels, not using spaces, that sort of thing.   So, instead of "Pete_Seeger_The_Lion_Sleeps_Tonight.ABC" we would have something like LionSlps8.ABC.   Songbook will still show the full name and parts and all... but makes for cleaner file maintenance. 

[Siltharan]

Good points on file naming. I do think Maestro default numbering is fine since we've already done so many songs with that format, but I've never really given much thought as to file names. Either I keep whatever the MIDI file was named, or rename it if it seems odd. :P Also, VPitcher is addicting. Redone Sarajevo and FF3CelesOpera so far. They sound so much better now! :D

Edit: Whole Final Fantasy folder has been reuploaded after volume edits. :)

Edit Edit: I also just downloaded Dropbox (Why didn't I do this earlier?) plus Dropbox Folder Sync, so everything should be auto-synced in my music folders. (Changed the main folder to Music, so I'll re-add my Dropbox link HERE

[Briallan]

Yeah, I am really a big fan of volume tweaking songs. I'm studying music composition now, and one of the points the instructor makes is that each voice has to harmonize to create the whole, yet each voice also has to be distinct -- in other words, if something gets drowned out it doesn't work. So I think it makes a big difference to the quality of our stuff when we fix the volume. I even go in and hand-edit little passages where something doesn't stand out enuf and I think it should. The main problem, I've realized, is that if you assign multiple parts to an instrument (say, you have a flute playing chords) and then the flute has a solo part, the solo part may not be loud enough since you have volume-tweaked the flute part for the chords part, and so then the solo part is too soft. OK, I'll stop now.

[Ice Weasel]

I'll have first-test versions of these songs ready either tonight, or more likely tomorrow.  We do need to set a date/time/location for the Seeger Tribute. It needs to be advertised ASAP.

• Blue Skies (8 parts)
• Good Night Irene (I have versions at 6, 7 and 9 parts... working on it)
• Kisses Sweeter Than Wine (6 parts)
• Lion Sleeps Tonight (7 parts)
• Midnight Special (6 parts)
• Simple Gifts (2 parts... yeah, a simple duet)
• Worried Man Blues (6 parts) (Also a really fun version for 3 players, separately)

I'm at volume tweaking with most of those now.

[Briallan]

Also, I will contribute a version of Guantanamera -- José Martí is one of my heroes and I've been wanting an excuse to do that song! I'll see what else I can do in the next couple days.

So, it seems we are going for Sunday, 9PM on the Bree Stage. I will do the twitter and mail to lotroartists.

As far as band personnel, I am guessing from the above that Krokhur and Silth are planning on attending -- I can make it as well. Could other band members please respond if they are available to play this concert?

[Siltharan]

It might be nice to set up everyone in a PM list so that those who don't regularly come to the forums can get PM'd about potential events. Either that or reach them on LOTRO itself. Perhaps just for a "Check out the thread on this concert" if input is needed. :)

[Briallan]

Do u mean guildlaunch PM or something else? Not everyone uses guildlaunch PM. We should probably discuss this at meetup (whenever we do that again). It would make it easier to plan concerts, but I don't want to be to intrusive into people's nonLOTRO lives.

[Siltharan]

Yes, via GL's PM system. It's not too hard to set up a list in the Communications area, so you don't have to send individual PMs to people. I was just thinking it would give people an easier notification of potential events rather than hoping they're on LOTRO to talk to or hoping they come on the forums.