"Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent." (Victor Hugo)
"Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent." (Victor Hugo)
Says David:
The description at right is from the original literature - back when I first started doing "A Personal Note" compositions in the early 1990s. They're fun to do, but extremely time consuming and thus somewhat costly. I've had the opportunity to do single names, 2 names (first & last), weaving 2 names (husband & wife), and other insteresting projects...though only a few dozen have ever been commissioned.
Give a listen to the 2 samples and enjoy! If you really want one for yourself, a loved one, your company, or similar, feel free to contact me and we can discuss it.
contact David at sdmusiclab@netscape.net
A PERSONAL NOTE
By transposing the letters of a person's name to musical notes, a unique musical theme is revealed, and a complete composition can be written. "A Personal Note" is just such a piece - a personalized composition based exclusively on the letters of YOUR NAME.
"A Personal Note"is based on the idea of "Tone Painting" with musical cryptograms, a compositional tool which was probably an outgrowth of "solmization". There were many systems of solmization (the replacement of lettered musical notes with syllables), but the most common was invented by Guido of Arezzo (995-1050) - the famous "do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do".Tone painting with musical cyptograms became a somewhat common practice during the Renaissance Period of music (1400-1600) when many composers, writing romantic song or honoring royalty, used several methods of transposing a given language into the musical language...or a person's name into musical notes. Thus, Tone Painting became a musical portrait of the person being honored, praised, or courted.
Later, composers utilized a direct letter relationship to "spell" a melody. The most famous example of this is the unfinished end of the "Art of the Fugue" by J.S. Bach (1685-1750), where Bach "signs" his name to his final composition! Many composers have since expounded on this theme (most notably Liszt and Schumann). Many 20th century composers, exploring increasingly articulate methods of transposition, began relying on several "alpha-numeric" systems.
Your finished music - honoring family, friend, organization, or perhaps that special someone - will be composed by David M. McLean in quasi "classical" style, performed on standard instruments, and recorded to CD. You will also receive the musical notation of the entire piece.
2 samples of "A Personal Note" custom compositions:
Heather (for 2 pianos)
This was commissioned by a friend for his wife as an anniversary gift. The opening 7 notes are the theme: the letters "H-E-A-T-H-E-R" transposed to music. Those notes are then used exclusively to compose the entire piece....which lasts 97 seconds.
MacLean (for musicbox)
This was created as a gift to the Clan MacLean International. As before, listen for the 7 notes of "M-A-C-L-E-A-N", which are then used exclusively for the entire composition (93 seconds).
All music on this site (c) 1999 - 2009, D. M. McLean; (P) Morgan Star Music, BMI.
All rights reserved.
International Copyright Secured.
SDML web-site first published 1999; last up-date: 2011