Amado Ohland

An Attack of Fiendish Faerie by Amado Ohland

eternal thirst - first stanza only by Amado Ohland

Affirmation [Aspiration to Change Course] by Amado Ohland

Just a simple build, to practice and understand the progression and its chord members.

When you're done with this one, go hear https://soundcloud.com/amadoohland/with-all-ive-learned Enjoy!

When you're done with this one, go hear https://soundcloud.com/amadoohland/even-so-at-sunset ! It's time to re-commit to my life's calling. So, I put a little too much extra into this first one. I was in the grip of a hyper-focus, and I knew that if I didn't get something finished that the effort spent would be for little good. What has circlesinging taught me about how music works? What about my...

When you're done with this one, go check out https://soundcloud.com/amadoohland/leaving

it's Friday the 13th. On a previous Friday the 13th, I recorded this. I thought I'd see if I could improve the audio quality. Did I get lucky?

Zed Oop Aw, Zeh Too Paydee Kay by Amado Ohland

What better way to learn about your Augmented Sixth chords?

It started as a song to sing to people on Sunday the 28th of March (which didn't happen, but no matter), and as an experiment in using a "neutral third" scale degree (halfway between minor and major). Turns out, I didn't feel like I'd gotten the Neutral Third to work. It just sounded disturbing. I made some adjustments, and the part in question is a little more conventionally bluesy now, using the...

It's So Very Friday by Amado Ohland

Why Change Your Quest? by Amado Ohland

I try the 57% swing (sort-of halfway between straight and 'standard' swing), based on septuplets. NO, i cannot do this yet without studio trickery. The test—the proof-of-concept—is: does this sound straight, swung, or kind-of in the middle? If I listen to this, maybe I can learn this feel.

Will It Sway the World? by Amado Ohland

Traditional Cuban. Arranged by Brian Tate.

Just a trifle, really, but I am attached enough to it to include it as an example of my compositions. Short, under three minutes. Initially written for 4 brass, I liked it enough that I doubled its length and scored it for standard Brass Quintet. Enjoy.

I tried some "minimalist"/procedural things with it that make it go too long; it's static, or requires a long attention-span to appreciate the ways in which it gradually changes from "texture A" to "texture B" and back again. Modified Arch Form—see if you can trace how it goes forward, and then backward.

"Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." It wasn't during the composition of this piece that those words of Leonard Cohen came to me, but just after. As I neared completion of the piece, it was a beautiful Spring day in Appalachia, and I pulled open the shades to let the light into my home. That's when this song got named. Scored for string quar...

Over the years, knowing the composers' passion for music, friends and family had adopted the practice of bringing back gifts of music-related mementos from their travels. The composer now has an eclectic collection of instruments—some only decorative, some functional, all of them beautiful, and all of them charged with personal history and meaning. Souvenirs marks the first time that these instrum...

Back at it, with the same tone row. See, I also just picked up the cheap version of Melodyne. Not because I want to be a cheater-singer, but because I often have to work out musical ideas that are beyond my ear. It's a tool. I today I sang sing-songy melodies into my DAW, and used Melodyne to round me off to the closest permutation of the tone-row I'm working with. (P[e], P[2], I[e], and I[8], for...

More atonal business. Or is it? 20th Century Expressionists sought ways to express through music that didn't rely on our (I believe) natural tendency to organize the experience around a tone center. One way was to make the rules: "no repeating a note until you've done all 12 of them, and you must do your intervals in the same order throughout the piece." That's all well and good, but I think we ke...

So, am I ruined? If you can't tell what I'm talking about, the answer is: no!

Somebody stop me. I'm in a hyperfocus. Nah but seriously, here's another look at what I can do with a new toy. It may not be terribly musical, but it is of interest to me as a proof-of-concept.

Sleep Deprivation [for cello and piano] by Amado Ohland