Hi all,

I am in the process of writing an interactive-novel-project. Part of the project is the book I'm writing, the other is full of other artistic stuff I have produced, pictures, poems and music. Which brings me to my next point I have asked some great pianists from the society, actually all are society members, to play some pieces I wrote.

I am roughly halfway done writing the book. If you are interesting in having a look, here is a link:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/927322308/the-ultimatum-an-interactive-novel-by-riley-tucker

Full Disclosure: PS does not endorse this project, and I am sharing this project as a kickstarter project creator, not in my capactity as a moderator on the PS forum.

Best wishes, Riley!

It looks like a nice project. I did not know you are into writing too ! Your humorous text shows skill and I'm sure it will get you some backing. Did you do the drawing yourself too ?
I hope for the best and will record my piece soon.

@ Monica



Thanks! I am happy to say the project is already 10% funded, and it has only been 2 days since it launched!

@ Chris



Thanks for the compliment, I tried to make my writing fancy, mind you I'm lousy at pitching! As for the drawing, I only wish I could take credit for drawing this! Alas, it is the work of Benjamin Fernandez, my illustrator!

Recorded in a studio today. Man, studio hours flyby! Recorded three pieces, an didn't get them nearly how I wanted them.. but I am quite happy with at least one of them

I think I'll share the other two here on PS as I will only donate one to the project.

Here is a studio recording of a piece I wrote called "Stories of a Century." It is dedicated to my Grandfather who will turn 100 on next St. Pat's Day! He is a wonderful storyteller and so this piece should hopefully convey that

Had some trouble with the middle section, and my regrets are that the repeats mostly sound the same, and I should have used the soft pedal for the last section.. Hope it still sounds passable

Hi Riley,
That's sweet about your grandpa.
I tried twice but could not download this file. Not sure if the problem is on my end or what...

That is a beautiful and affecting piece ! Your grampa should be mighty pleased.
The sound is pretty good though there seems to be some ringing noise around the strings which I had not expected in a studio recording.
Also, some of your accents seem a bit out of control. Sometimes in strange places, sometimes too harsh. Apart from that, very well performed.

@ Monica
I hope my grandpa likes it!
Thanks for trying to download it, I wonder what is wrong with it, it's not a particulary large file? I've had times where I try to download attachments and I only receive a partial piece of the file, odd.

@ Chris

Glad you like it, despite its flaws. I recorded this on a Yamaha Upright. A U1, I believe. My engineer Xu has two pianos in his studio, this Upright and a Yamaha C3 Grand. I tried it out first on the grand. The result, I am sorry to say I didn't like. I tried to play piano, but even though I pressed the keys down, not a sound was uttered. The Upright was much better at playing softer. But, It still takes time to adjust to a new piano and I think this recording proves I was too rushed. The other two pieces I recorded were on the grand.

So I'll share now the second piece, "In the Night." Here I try to use a legato left hand and prominent melody. It is not a part of this project, just an extra piece I composed.

Yes, I couldn't download it from here but I've just sent the file (also this second one) to my email, so I think I can listen to both recordings on my phone when I go to the gym shortly.

Yay - I could listen to them both!

Anyway, they are pretty pieces - I really like all the harmonies and chord transitions. However, I felt like it was all mostly accompaniment...like the melody line was missing. Or it could be that I just couldn't hear a melody note brought out loud enough in the chords. Sometimes I couldn't tell if I was hearing a melody or if it was a secondary melody. I kept thinking that the music would be very nice if you wrote another part to go on top. Or maybe just try to bring out the melody notes more. I hope you aren't upset....I know you can write very nice music, and these two pieces are nice too - I'm just offering my two cents since I know you like honest feedback.

All this talk of storytelling in music makes me think of Edward MacDowell.

Hi Monica,

Thanks for having a listen. And yes I like honest feedback I agree with your assesment I think these performances needed to be crafted a lot more, at present they are basically just played literally. A part on the top would be interesting, hadn't thought of that. I haven't heard much of MacDowell, will have to look more into him!

hi, Riley!

these are nice performances. I appreciate the "3D" level approach of voices on Stories of a Century.
And In the night has a quite interesting atmosphere.

@ Luis,

Thanks for listening. Yes, I was wondering if anyone would pick up that, the 3D aspect!
I think I could have done a lot more with the repeats and dynamics, but until it is revisited, it stands for better or worse. I wish I could have sampled the grand for the last (and lowest) note, the upright's lower register is not puny, but not "growly" as a note we heard in the Chopin piece Monica posted in the AR

In the Night is all about the atmosphere my downfall here is I tried to hard to make the left hand legato and didn't focus on the balance between the left and right hands!

@Chris



It may be the compression of the files, as with both of these recordings the uncompressed versions were compressed here down to 32 Kbit/s. I realize encoding doesn't really have an effect on the sound, but when its extremely low... perhaps yes...

Here is my recording of "Summer on the Farm".

Tucker - Summer On The Farm (3:07)

Actually a re-recording, incorporating some things I discussed with Riley. I think it's ok now.

Chris,

Excellent re-recording. The ruminative section at measure 32 is just as I imagined it. Majestic, as if one night of this summer one looks up at the night sky and marvels at the stars

The project is now 28% funded!