SPONGE ~ Ragtime + Fiddle! (W.C. Simon, 1911)

Here is a neat Louisiana Ragtime tune called "Sponge!" It was composed by Walter C. Simon in 1911, in New Orleans. Ragtime is an American genre of music that was the predecessor of "Jazz." It's actually one of my favorite genres of music, and I really want to play more ragtime tunes on the fiddle! My mom used to play this song a lot on the piano when I was a kid, and I really wanted to play it on the violin. The original key wasn't very piratical for the violin, so I transcribed to an easier key. I also noticed that a lot of people play this song very slowly. To me, it sort of sounded almost like a funeral march when I played it that slowly with a violin. I bumped the speed up to 110 bpm, which I think made it a little more fun and cheerful. Since I've posted this, I've learned that this song is actually about prostitution..oh my! I guess that explains the creepy minor beginning that everyone always plays so haunting and slowly. : o Maybe I've ruined the song's meaning, but I prefer happy-sounding music. ^_^ This piece was kind of hard to play. I had to practice it a lot to be able to hit some of those notes that were pretty much only leaps of faith. Sometimes piano music doesn't translate very well into violin music... =/ It still was a lot of fun to play, and i hope that you enjoy listening to this version! =) I think I went a little overboard with the color effects...I really need to catch up on writing out sheet music this week, and I'm hoping to have this version written out soon. Thank you for watching! =) ~Katy ------------ Software and equipment used: Software used (for Macintosh): SmartScore X2 Midi Edition (converts scanned sheet music to midi files) Garageband for attempted sound mixing Myriad's Harmony Assistant for notation software (it can import midi's and convert to virtual sheet music. I think it works better on a Windows OS.) Final Cut Pro for video editing PicMonkey.com for the ending cards Plugins for sound effects (I have A LOT to learn in this department!): East West plugins – Goliath Virtual Instrument, Pianos Gold Camera: Canon 70D Microphone for audio recording: Blue Woodpecker + Blue icicle
via YouTube http://youtu.be/V9t7U3D2nO4