Echo For Tenor, virtual piano, FM synth, virtual violin, viola and cello

[Jerry Gerber]

Words by Christina Rossetti Music by Jerry Gerber Tenor, Dale Tracy

Come to me in the silence of the night;

Come in the speaking silence of a dream;

Come with soft rounded cheeks and eyes as bright

As sunlight on a stream;

Come back in tears,

O memory, hope, love of finished years.

Oh dream how sweet, too sweet, too bitter sweet,

Whose wakening should have been in Paradise,

Where souls brimfull of love abide and meet;

Where thirsting longing eyes

Watch the slow door

That opening, letting in, lets out no more.

Yet come to me in dreams, that I may live

My very life again tho’ cold in death:

Come back to me in dreams, that I may give

Pulse for pulse, breath for breath:

Speak low, lean low,

As long ago, my love, how long ago.

Play

from the album "In Praise of Poets", 2003

[Jos Wylin]

Gerry,

This is so beautiful. The musical setting of the poem and the accompanying instruments (or should I say the supporting instruments). It's a wonderful merge of tradition and synth again, which enriches the atmosphere in the song a lot. But I wanted to praise the violin and cello as well. They sound so incredibly natural.

Well done and thanks for sharing,

Max

[mh-7635]

Jerry,

Another nice piece of writing. It felt vaguely english to me in its treatment of the words, almost Holstian or Vaughn Williams. That's not to say it was pastiche, because it certainly was not and your voice is loud and clear.

You know me, right, I am going to have to say that I, unlike Max above, do not like the synth. The purity of everything else is marred by it for me and I would have loved to hear that part played by perhaps some low brass.

Stll, its your piece not mine, so who cares what I think - a beautiful setting Jerry despite my one subjective reservation.

[William]

.

[Jerry Gerber]

@William said:

I agree - it is an interesting setting of the poem and the strings sound good,  but the farting noise of the synthesizer is weirdly inappropriate.  It is supposed to be the "echo" effect, but it is distracting and out of character with the poem and the rest of the music.  

I also did this poem!  I will post it so that Jerry can get back at me...  

I obviously disagree with your crude analogy, otherwise I would not have written the part the way I did.  We all hear differently, have different musical values and don't always react to what is new, strange or different with openess or objectivity, me included.  

[William]

Its not strange or new, that was just my reaction. I thought you wanted criticism otherwise why post things - but never mind.

[Jerry Gerber]

@William said:

Its not strange or new, that was just my reaction. I thought you wanted criticism otherwise why post things - but never mind.

My attitude is different from most people when it comes to "online criticism".  I don't post work because I seek praise or criticism, I post to share my work. If people find the meaning I put into it, I am grateful and happy.  If not, it's not my problem, I cannot control how people react to my compositions.  It's not that I think my work is perfect as it is, far from it. 

I don't know if you've noticed, but I do not offer criticism of anybody's work online, it's a policy I am pretty consistent about.   If I listen to another composer's piece and it really moves me, I will often write something to that effect, as I have done with Mike Hewer's work.  But if I hear something I don't like I say nothing.  Given that on forums everyone is a self-appointed expert, everyone believes their opinion is worth stating, I find it kind of juvenile one-upsmanship, particularly with people of the male gender.   Since it is much more difficult to write a good piece of music than it is to critique one, I find most criticism utterly useless, it's too easy.  I know what real music criticism is, I've read a lot of it when I was studying composition and when I teach I've learned what kind of comments are helpful to my students and which should be quickly dismissed or not even given expression.   Music is much more like food than water.   We all need water or we die, but with food, one person's favorite dish might upset the stomach or palate of another.  Same with musical taste, one man's meat is another man's poison.  

I try to treat people online the same way I'd treat them in person, not going out of my way to make a person feel bad.  This forum is kind of an exception, most of the people are kind.   But other forums have an abundance of lunatics, jerks, wannabes, angry souls and envious creeps, their opinions don't help me to write or produce better music and never will.

You've gotten on my case for scoring Gumby with the early synths and samples available in the late 80s.  I don't trust that type of response and I think you probably know why. 

Composers can be a weird bunch.  My philosophy is that I am not competing with anybody, only myself.  This is true artistically, financially and socially.  Criticism without sympathy, insight and a keen ear holds no interest for me.  Music is about expressing one's experience, one's vision, one's ideas and ideals about life, reality, relationship, the world.  It is entirely subjective.   I offer criticism to my students, but that's part of what they pay me for!

[William]

That is just your opinion of a Forum - and it is wrong.  "Forum" derives from the word for open discussion, and that obviously includes criticism, not just fulsome praise.  It does not imply doing what Thumper did and "don't say nothing if you can't say anything nice." You don't get any new ideas from  praise, which is the only thing you will accept.  

I don't appreciate your implying I am weird, a lunatic, jerk etc.   For your information, someone who dares to criticize you - including your score for Gumby  - is not a lunatic.

[Jerry Gerber]

@William said:

That is just your opinion of a Forum - and it is wrong.  "Forum" derives from the word for open discussion, and that obviously includes criticism, not just fulsome praise.  It does not imply doing what Thumper did and "don't say nothing if you can't say anything nice." You don't get any new ideas from  praise, which is the only thing you will accept.  

I don't appreciate your implying I am weird, a lunatic, jerk etc.   For your information, someone who dares to criticize you - including your score for Gumby  - is not a lunatic.

I didn't imply you were any of those things.  This is what I mean by forums, there is no sense of a person's energy, their body-language, facial expression, misunderstandings are quick to erupt.  I wasn't referring to you when I wrote that I have seen people behave badly on forums.  As I said, praise is not that useful for me either, all it means to me is that someone gets what I am doing.  So you're wrong about that.  Praise and criticism are both imposters, albeit there can be some truth, occasionally, in both.  But online?   Unlikely, not impossible, but unlikely.

[William]

o.K. I understand. Sorry.  It is a good piece anyway and I didn't mean to dismiss the entire piece.  I just had that one criticism.

[Jerry Gerber]

@Max Hamburg said:

Gerry,

This is so beautiful. The musical setting of the poem and the accompanying instruments (or should I say the supporting instruments). It's a wonderful merge of tradition and synth again, which enriches the atmosphere in the song a lot. But I wanted to praise the violin and cello as well. They sound so incredibly natural.

Well done and thanks for sharing,

Max

Thanks Max, much appreciated!

[Jerry Gerber]

@William said:

o.K. I understand. Sorry.  It is a good piece anyway and I didn't mean to dismiss the entire piece.  I just had that one criticism.

Everyone has "just that one criticism".   It's so easy, just find the defect, the imperfection in somebody's work (or, what the critic has decided is the so-called defect or imperfection) and post it, believing one's opinion is valuable, objective and helpful, when 99% of the time, it is none of these things.  Don't take this personally, I think I just don't like the way most forums are conducted.