Cadences is the name of my newest addition to the Tower Music canon. It starts with a slow introduction which I am choosing to release as a separate short Prelude. The main body of the work then turns into a playful rhythmic romp; playful to listen to, but complicated to perform. Such is Art. The finished product is close to where… Read more →
Tag: Eiffel Tower Music
“Bon jour Monsieur Bertolozzi..”
Those were the words spoken to me by a smiling boy bagging my groceries on my last day in Paris, a year ago today….“bon jour Monsieur Bertolozzi.” From the lead story on p. 1 of the NY Times digital edition (and lead story on that day’s Arts section in the physical paper) to the Reuters news agency to The Himalayan Times… Read more →
THE PRACTICALITY OF 10K SAMPLES
People have asked me, can you really use thousands of notes? There are only 88 keys on a piano for instance…how many do you need to write a song? Fair question. I chose (at minimum) six samples of each surface, two hard, two medium and two soft (so if done on a piano, right there you’d have 88 x 6!).… Read more →
HARVESTING THE EIFFEL TOWER – ONE YEAR LATER
It’s hard to believe an entire year has gone by since my crew and I set foot on the Eiffel Tower on May 27, 2013 to harvest its sounds for a musical opus. Today’s honors go to them (l.-r.): Franc Palaia, Kyle Griffin, Paul Kozel, Joe Popp, Joseph Bertolozzi, Robert Bellach, Jeff Gertin and Joseph Redwood-Martinez. The team hailed from… Read more →
FOURTH MOVEMENT OF TOWER MUSIC COMPLETE
The Tower Music opus grows steadily as I have I just finished the next movement. Very different from the previous three, it is spread out on a dark canvas, a deeply introspective exploration of the sounds of the Eiffel Tower; music of the nature of its sounds alone, unshackled by any rhythmic or melodic imperative, though there is a logic… Read more →
THIRD PIECE IN TOWER MUSIC COMPLETE
Just finished another bit of #TowerMusic. Making steady progress as this puts me roughly 1/4 of the way thru the album. Read more →
TWO MOVEMENTS OF TOWER MUSIC COMPLETED
I have finished two movements of Tower Music. One is an aggressive, overture-type piece, not unlike Meltdown from Bridge Music, but at the moment I’m not sure of its placement in the final sequence of numbers. The second is part of a projected mini-suite entitled “The Harp That Pierced the Sky,” limited to the Eiffel Tower‘s harp-like samples. This is… Read more →
LET THE COMPOSING BEGIN
I have completed building my “Virtual Eiffel Tower Instrument,” a repository of the sounds I will use to compose Musique de la Tour. Now the creative part begins, THE PART I CAME TO DO. To paraphrase William Shawn, legendary editor of The New Yorker: “…Be patient – trust your material. Every piece has its own natural, sometimes preposterously long term…”… Read more →
BERTOLOZZI NOW A VIC FIRTH ARTIST
Joseph Bertolozzi is now a Vic Firth Artist. He continues cataloging his samples for the upcoming #TowerMusic on the Eiffel Tower Music / Musique de la Tour. Read more →
BUILDING THE EIFFEL TOWER VIRTUAL INSTRUMENT
I’m now building the Eiffel Tower Virtual Instrument. That is to say I am now going through the 2800 samples culled from the original 10,000 and organizing them into a coherent playing system. All bell-type sounds are being grouped together, all drum-like sounds, marimba-like sounds, etc. It is meticulous and labor intensive work. It’s not unlike building a piano before… Read more →