Sheet Music Status topic

[dbeattie]

Finished the transcriptions today for Transcontinental 1:30 a.m. and Now Three. They need some more visual editing, dynamics, and in the case of Transcontinental, some more editing of the rhythm of the piano transcription of the bass part, but otherwise they are complete.

[Reileen]

Glad to hear about your progress!

[wolding]

David, Thanks for your continued efforts! I am happy that the books for the two latest albums will eventually be made available.
Thanks also for your help with Daniel's guitar arrangement for "Nothing Without You" back in 2008. He and I tried to make out the chords from that video. Currently, I've got a guitar student who will enjoy learning that song correctly.

[dbeattie]

So, within the past couple weeks ago I worked on City Hall a lot, and, more or less finished that (it needs editing now)....

And now I worked on Recessional a lot last week and this week, and more or less finished it too (it needs editing now too)...

So I don't know about the rest of you, but I am not in the habit of juxtaposing those songs together. It was just an accident of trying to work on the music in whatever felt like the easiest order to do it in! Both songs of course, are songs where Vienna sings from a fictitious point of view. In City Hall her point of view seems to be as a gay woman planning to get married in a hilly seaside town. So of course, when transcribing this song, I had to enter all the words and study them very carefully, which of course, put me in that frame of mind myself. In Recessional, I have always assumed, after careful and thorough consideration of the admittedly somewhat cryptic words, that it is written from the point of view of a man, and specifically a man who is, like me, not a womanizer, and remains continually surprised at having found a woman who likes him well enough to take the risk of letting down her guard, trusting him, and eventually loving him! So, let me tell you what a shock it was to come back to working on the transcription for Recessional, while in the "City Hall" frame of mind! Obviously there's nothing in the words of Recessional which tell us plainly the gender of the narrator--any evidence there is is circumstantial (in contrast to the one being spoken about in the song, who we know is a woman)... so the song could be interpreted either way. And I still think I find evidence in the lyrics that he's a man, beyond simply the fact that I can identify with the song. But listening to those two songs back to back, I definitely had to do a double-take and think about it for a while, because the lyrics of Recessional can be ambiguous at times,.... and I thought I would share that experience with you all.

[Fred]

So I don't know about the rest of you, but I am not in the habit of juxtaposing those songs together. It was just an accident of trying to work on the music in whatever felt like the easiest order to do it in! Both songs of course, are songs where Vienna sings from a fictitious point of view. In City Hall her point of view seems to be as a gay woman planning to get married in a hilly seaside town. So of course, when transcribing this song, I had to enter all the words and study them very carefully, which of course, put me in that frame of mind myself. In Recessional, I have always assumed, after careful and thorough consideration of the admittedly somewhat cryptic words, that it is written from the point of view of a man, and specifically a man who is, like me, not a womanizer, and remains continually surprised at having found a woman who likes him well enough to take the risk of letting down her guard, trusting him, and eventually loving him! So, let me tell you what a shock it was to come back to working on the transcription for Recessional, while in the "City Hall" frame of mind! Obviously there's nothing in the words of Recessional which tell us plainly the gender of the narrator--any evidence there is is circumstantial (in contrast to the one being spoken about in the song, who we know is a woman)... so the song could be interpreted either way. And I still think I find evidence in the lyrics that he's a man, beyond simply the fact that I can identify with the song. But listening to those two songs back to back, I definitely had to do a double-take and think about it for a while, because the lyrics of Recessional can be ambiguous at times,.... and I thought I would share that experience with you all.

Funny story I've mentioned before: Vienna played City Hall and Recessional back to back at the first show I saw. Afterward, my wife and daughter, who accompanied me to the show, asked if Vienna was gay, based on the lyrics. Not unreasonable if you assume her songs are written from her own point of view, but try interpreting Homecoming on that basis, LOL. Vienna has also written and spoken of the similar issue of people taking Shasta as an anti-abortion polemic, which was certainly not her intent. Vienna is an observer of life, a writer of 4-minute (give or take) short stories. The only song I can recall her saying was flat-out confessional is Kansas.

[dbeattie]

Working on Blue Caravan now. I also did a lot of work on Love Turns 40 a couple weeks ago but haven't finished it yet.

[Reileen]

Blue Caravan! So much love.

[dbeattie]

shhh. Preorder.

[aaparallel]

shhh. Preorder.

Woohoo!

[Michele]

shhh. Preorder.

Congrats on another finished songbook!

[Lirulin]

THANK YOU! Dreaming Through the Noise is my favorite album, and I've been anticipating the sheet music ever since...

[master_burn]

Maybe you could update your first post with information about when and how one can get the already transcribed songs? It doesn't say anything about it there and I, as maybe everyone else searching for sheet music, am wondering how to get it. - and yes I know there are 2 Books already on sale, but there is still much stuff unreleased ..

[aaparallel]

Maybe you could update your first post with information about when and how one can get the already transcribed songs? It doesn't say anything about it there and I, as maybe everyone else searching for sheet music, am wondering how to get it. - and yes I know there are 2 Books already on sale, but there is still much stuff unreleased ..

All sheet music books, when available, can be purchased on the merch page of this site.

[Vespertine]

I have bought all three available songbooks and they're fantastic! Thank you so much!

Just wondering, what is the update on Inland Territory?

[dbeattie]

I have bought all three available songbooks and they're fantastic! Thank you so much!

Just wondering, what is the update on Inland Territory?

I will be working on the Inland Territory songbook again soon. I actually did most of the work for it back in 2009, but Vienna's songwriting on that album is just so experimental in places, that I was having a hard time figuring out what to do with some of the songs, until I worked my way through Vienna's earlier work. Thus, the publication of Warm Strangers in Dec 2010 and Dreaming Through the Noise in Jan 2012. So now that we've published the first 3 songbooks in order, the 4th seems like less of a stretch in terms of knowing the best way to make sheet music for it. My only problem now is that I'm spending my full time running a business as a free lance computer repairman, so it's hard to find the time to squeeze in the sheet music work. But I am almost to the point of starting it again, and then it should be something I can wrap up in a few months' time considering how much I already did for it three years ago. So I don't have a target date for completion, but if I don't start work on it again within a month from now it will drive me crazy to be away from it for any longer, so I am sure I will start soon.

--David