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Visiting ViennaBy Robert Farley (cl_kaulana) | cl_kaulana@oocities.com | Vienna Strasse/7000 Only two sites for this issue, but they are excellent ones, well worth more than one visit each.
Biron has made a great effort to combine music, computers, and art, succeeding in a way that is unique to the Internet. A neat part of his site is a page on which you can hear the 128 sounds of the general MIDI nomenclature in simple melodic folk songs of 50 countries. Related to that is a page demonstrating the panning possibilities of the computer, the Stereophonic Listening Hall. But I have to admit that my favorite part of the site is the Bach musical background to an Escher slide show. This is something that all visitors to the Internet who are interested in classical music and art should see. Built using FrontPage and Image Composer, Mont Bleu allows the visitor to choose a language and a viewing style, whether frames or non-frames, or "bird's eye," as Maurice calls it. "I always think of the visitor when I design a page," Biron says, "trying not to lose the interest: put more text if the music or the picture takes a longer time to download. ..." All the music on the site is done by Biron with the computer, keyboard, soundcard and music programs (Encore and Master Tracks Pro). He takes a methodical approach to the music, as well. "For classical music, I copy from a score, note by note, setting the volumes (dynamics), tempi (speed), voicings (what instrument or melodic line the listener should hear a little bit more). The copy of a score like the Storm of the 6th symphony of Beethoven or the Hallelujah of The Messiah of Haendel (duration: 4 minutes each) took around 36 hours each. Some might argue that it takes too long or that it is a loss of time. But copying the score gives me the opportunity to study that composer, and setting the tempi, dynamics and voicings allow me to study a part of the work of a conductor. "For popular music, I listen to the pieces and take them in dictation. That also is a very good school for learning the forms, the harmony and the general idea of the piece; very often I re-arrange them." Apparently well-versed in electronics as well as music and computers, Biron explained why he has connected his sound card to his sound system. "...I could not enjoy music with my multimedia speakers." However, the quality of the production on the site is enjoyable even to those of us without speaker enhancements. Looking at a future in arranging and composing, with connections to the Internet, this Montreal-based homesteader is well on his way to realizing that goal. With over 5,000 visitors to his site during the past year, he is definitely onto something.
A 14-year-old resident of the sunny island of Singapore, Fryderyk says he has always liked Western Classical music since beginning to learn the piano at the age of 6. "I only started liking Chinese Classical music after I joined my school Chinese Orchestra last year," Fryderyk says. One of Fryderyk's main concerns for his site was informing the Internet world about Chinese orchestras, and to that end he has been very successful. His site includes many fine graphics and descriptions of Chinese instruments, most of which are not at all well known in the Western world. Anyone with good pictures of Western musical instruments could help out the young author by sending them to him or recommending some websites to gather some. After finishing the Western Orchestra, Fryderyk intends to start on the Malay Gamelan Orchestra. "Hopefully, I can expand to include major folk orchestras around the world," Fryderyk says, "like the Indian Orchestra and the Russian Balalaika Ensemble." All CLs and residents of Vienna are invited to submit paragraphs and background information to Robert (cl_kaulana) about interesting sites they have seen in Vienna. Photos and sounds are welcome, and, of course, all credit will be given where due. cl_k reserves the right to edit all submissions. Find out how to join the Vienna Community Leaders. Why not make your browsing count? |
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