Michael Allen
Good writers write...always
I retired from a 30+ year professional playing career 10 months ago to the day. Retire is a funny word because I hardly feel retired....
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Michael Allen
- Sep 23, 2018
Another possible approach
I might have tried to transcribe something as awesome as the first movement of Mahler's 5th Symphony decades ago - I might have even...
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Michael Allen
- Mar 18, 2018
Texture 1 - Writing for the whole ensemble
A while back, I wrote an entry called 4 Dimensional Texture where I identified 4 basic ways to group instruments in a large ensemble.
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Michael Allen
- Mar 9, 2018
Breaking my own rules
I usually have three or four arranging projects on the front burners and many more unfinished projects in my "work in progress" file....
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Michael Allen
- Dec 5, 2017
Texture 2 - Writing for families
However, in my brass ensemble writing, I'll write passages for a grouping of trumpets when the music calls for it, and/or as a contrast
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Michael Allen
- Dec 3, 2017
Texture 4 - writing chamber music
Recently, I've undertaken some large engraving projects - I'm making clean versions of the Tchaikovsky ballets. This may seem a little...
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Michael Allen
- Nov 9, 2017
Bass Doubling
I wrote something yesterday that was confusing even to me when I read it again today. Mea culpa. The offending sentence was: Wright notes...
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Michael Allen
- Sep 24, 2017
Farnaby's Conceit
The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book comprises nearly 300 works composed for keyboard by notable English court composers from the time of Queen...
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Michael Allen
- Sep 15, 2017
Breaking up the Romance
Too soon? I'm having too much fun with these titles. I promised to talk about the decision to transpose this movement of Robert...
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Michael Allen
- Sep 14, 2017
More advice on Romance
One of the things I appreciated about teaching was that I learned things about my own playing by observing and articulating ideas to...
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