A brass section head has been found! Welcome the lovely froodooboogins to the team, now all the other plans can commence.
(But we still need violas, so pass the word around!)
-tugger
Hooray! Welcome, @froodooboogins!
Tag: sansukh orc-estra
Information Update
So here’s all everything going on thus far:
First I’m calling anyone who has extensive knowledge of brass instruments to be in charge of that section, so to speak. punsbulletsandpointythings will be the head of percussion, the-dragongirl has come aboard to handle all things strings, and I will be working with the winds.
Which leaves the brass section open, if you wish to be head of that section simply send an ask. You’ll be handling the informal auditions (which I will explain below) and a few other things.
Second, this is a message for all you violas players out there, we need you! From my rough list, I’ve found no one who plays the viola and we’re definitely going to need violas in our pool of instruments.
Third, I will be sending out messages to confirm if I received messages from you about what instrument you play and how to contact you (if you’d rather some other way of communication than tumblr, just say so!). If you don’t receive a message and have previously contacted then my tumblr most likely ate it when i was having a lot of problems. I kindly ask that if this is the case, send a message to this page and I will confirm you.
Fourth, the informal audition process I mentioned above will only be to determine your skill level AND your recording quality. This is not going to be an exclusive thing, there will be a pool of instruments we pull from for certain songs based on the input from the original composers. Also I know there are others like myself who enjoy parts that are simpler due to anxiety or many other reasons, so this is by no means saying we won’t be giving everyone a part at some point or another.
Please spread this info around, once we have someone for the brass section all of the other things can be done! Thank you guys for your patience and interest in this crazy idea.
-tugger
TUGGER YOU ARE A STAR.
Musos, here we go! Viola players, where art thou? Is there anyone out there brassy enough to handle it (no throwing of rotten fruit pls and thank)?
This is so exciting!
For my last two semesters of college, I was in an experimental multimedia class, which was trying to tell a story across multiple platforms. It was a miserable flop. We lost half the class halfway through, and I wish I’d left too. It ended up mostly a cheesy live performance with some poorly-made videos awkwardly spliced in. There was also sort of a website. And that was all the multimedia we had. I feel like Sansukh is becoming what that class should have been – a celebration of a single (1/2)
(2/2) story that’s actually had immense thought and care spent on it, brought to life in as many ways as we possibly can, made from love rather than obligation. This gorgeous collision of four books, six movies, one massive beautiful fanfic, hundreds of pieces of art, the voice and audio talents of what will be hundreds of volunteer actors and musicians… THIS is the dream that my celebrity guest professor with his 5-digit budget and years of experience couldn’t pull off.
Oh gosh, that class sounds like it was a hell of a chore to get through – I feel for you and for everybody involved!
I am (I know I say this a lot) very very lucky. VERY lucky. I myself as an individual haven’t really done anything all that out of the norm, really. So many people have also done exactly as I have: writing, Khuzdul, the research, the world-building, the length, all that.
This fan-community is full of amazing passion and talent and drive. I’m honestly blown away, all the time. All these people have different skills that they want to use, to bring to the table, to become a part of this thing. The initiative this fandom shows is utterly astounding.
And the creativity gets passed around and built-on, all the time. To see people becoming inspired by the work of another person is incredible.
It’s like… even from the very beginning, if someone drew a character from the fic, it made an impact on how I wrote them. The art influences my writing, which in turn influences more fiction-works, which again influences me and sometimes another artist, which feeds into the fic. People ask me about music and dancing, and so I write headcanons, which end up in the fic as compositions or lyrics which then turns into performance, which inspires MORE compositions by others, all of which are then sung by more singers and arranged for instrumentalists- which makes me want to write more songs – which the choir will no doubt have a go at – and then it may even get translated for orc-estra (i love that pun so much) – which may then appear in the PODFIC, excuse me while I faint.
It’s stunning to see all the ideas and all the creativity as people draw and write and voice-act and sing and make music. It makes this thing much less about me and what I began, and a lot more about us as a collaboration of creative people, all playing in a world we love. And that’s pretty breathtaking to me.
Sansukh Orc-estra Update
so through all of yesterday/today’s craziness (Idk it’s 5:30 here and I still haven’t gone to bed, whoops), I made a bit of progress.
I’m still working on the two blog thing and finding it harder than expected. also, my tumblr is still being ridiculous so that’s been difficult to deal with.
now that the lovely Dets has made the ‘Iron Hills For Me’ public, punsbulletsandpointythings and I are going to ideally see how many instruments would be best and if the song can be written for different instruments with first and second parts and so forth.
hopefully this made sense, if it didn’t, I’ll edit it when I get up in a few hours and apologize for the confusion I may or may not cause
Planning Update
Alright guys, so the current things we’re working with are as follows:
How many instruments versus how many parts.
But there’s also the problem of recording. Since the players would most likely be from around the world, playing together would be near impossible. (Not to say it couldn’t be done, but there would be so many things that could go wrong). So the next best option would be what determamfidd suggested, which would be to have each player record their part while listening to a metronome/click-track at a specified speed.
And then these separate audio tracks would be layered on top of one another.
Of course that doesn’t account for fermatas and the like.
If anyone has any ideas feel free to contact either myself or punsbulletsandpointythings, we’ll gladly consider any and all suggestions!
Another option would be a rehearsal track. That would account for any tempo fluctuations…
The rehearsal track could be one “demo” instrument playing the melody & the demo player counting out the beats where there are fermatas, accelerandos, ritardandos etc. The orc-estra member could then record their part by playing along with it?
idk, there’s another idea! A bit more labour-intensive though.
Not the most flattering angle, but I wanted to show off the fingers (and understand why my clarinet prof was so annoyed with me…).
errandofmercy played the first part of this on her tin whistle and made me want to join in. So, while its not exactly the same “Concerning Hobbits” that Shore wrote, I tried to capture the tone.
Hey, can this serve as my audition for the Sansûkh orchestra, determamfidd? 😛
Omg Lisa you sound amazing!!! I miss you too :’) I showed this to B and E (both woodwind players) and they were very impressed 😉
Eeee, you’re the sweetest! I’ve been meaning to record some of my “serious” music, but I’m so out of shape it’s ridiculous. (And every time I here the b-flat – er, concert a-flat – in this recording I cringe because it’s *such* an awkward note on the clarinet!)
OH MY GOODNESS! Hey, courtugger – look! Clarinet!! ALSO HOBBITS.
Orchestra and choir!!! This might be the most exciting thing ever. I can’t wait to hear these! Everything that has come out of Sansukh is amazing. Do I remember right that someone is putting together an ebook that includes all the art?
Yes, that’s right! the fab @cassiofights is working on an epub & mobi that includes the artworks (with the permission of the artists, naturally)
Every time I think ‘this is it: I cannot possibly become more astonished and flabbergasted and generally bowled over than this’; this incredibly passionate and talented and wonderful fandom proves me wrong ❤
If you’re gonna have a sansukh orcistra you should have a sansukh choir too
Actually – we do! 😀
The podfic is having a choir sing the songs that I have scattered through the fic (please pinch me, I am still overwhelmed by all this). The music director is the lovely notanightlight. Auditions for the choir are now closed. sorry. But I can’t wait to hear the finished product!! It is going to be stupendous! SO MANY VOICES, so many wonderful people, all singing Dwarven songs together, how awesome is thattttt
ohmygosh. i had to move to a computer because my poor little iPod couldn’t take the sheer number of responses to my idea!
okay, so. i’m not for sure this is possible with everyone all around the world but if the lovely people who are doing the podfic can manage something so massive, surely we can do this? ( i mean if i can conduct and manage 120 kids in marching band, this can be done….hopefully!)
i sure hope so!
i’m pretty sure i have all the responses and everyone who responded with their instruments/talents written down, but just to be safe, if you’d send me an ask with your talents that’d be great!
there’s a lot of ways i can see this being very difficult, but i’m sure it can be accomplished, so anything anyone can contribute would be absolutely amazing :D.
reminder: i’m just a lil’ nerd who thought this would be a great idea and i really have no idea what i’m doing besides seeing if this is possible, so if you have any suggestions feel free to throw them out. seriously guys O.o.
For recordings, could various recording be layered an edited together? Like, as a way to create the final product?
that’s a great idea! i have no knowledge of how to do that but we could find someone who does and totally do that!
Audacity is a fab editing program for laying down tracks on top of each other – and it is also free!
Hmm. Either people would have to play along to a click-track/metronome at a specified speed (eg. 60bpm), or along with a rehearsal track (such as a midi recording etc: most notation software can do this!) on their headphones.
Throwing some ideas out there!
EDIT: also, I believe notanightlight plays harp!!
I think I should specify – I have all the vocal parts written (and I’m tops at arranging anything in Concert C!!) but I am super-rubbish at everything that is tuned to Bflat or the like.
So, if people wanted to take what I have (I usually write music in Musescore – free notation software) and transpose it/modify it for brass and woodwinds, I think that could probably work!!
I also don’t have much in the way of bass lines: I write most of these songs to fit within my own range (and while it’s not too shabby, a bass-baritone I am not).
And I am truly pants at percussion. *sheepish grin*
Aw Yiss 