Music in the back ground:my classical symphony
Movement 2 © 2007-2008 Thomas Penders
Hello, thanks for visiting my
website.
I was born in The Netherlands, 1972. I studied piano
at the Conservatory of Music in Rotterdam. My Professor at the time was
Aquilles Delle-vigne, a student of Claudio Arrau. During these years I
also participated in master classes with Vladimir Tropp from the Moscow
Conservatory. I currently study composition with
Professor Elinor Armer in Berkeley, Ca.
In the 90's I moved to California. I started to focus
on composing. I felt that I could express myself much more and deeper by
being a composer. The freedom of turning your ideas into sound is almost
a fourth dimension!
-- I started to compose and compose... Everything I
wrote was in pen and ink. The real old fashioned way to learn how to write
music. It beats memorizing the rules of music theory for exams in school!
But in 2004, I started to use a notation program called "Sibelius". That was
the entrance to a new level of composing and a journey of unlimited progress
by being able to hear immediately the results of performance by
pushing the "Play" button in the score and hear what you actually wrote
minutes before! The results could be horrible or great. The progress came by
after listening to the play back, to adjust or re-write or leave it as it
was. The notation program would be like the best teacher to me letting me
know if it sounded good or bad! So I was happy....until...
In late 2004, I found out about virtual orchestras. It is
like astronauts practicing how to park their shuttle in a virtual reality
computer room! This software is recorded in a real nice concert hall with a
REAL orchestra present. Then the producers start recording samples of each
instrument. Samples like staccato or legato bowing for strings, (solo and
group). Also samples of different ambiences or microphone settings or
tunings. Too much to mention. The great part of all of this is that I was
able to load these samples in my PC in combination with my notation program.
Now I could compose and instantly hear the realistic sound of a major orchestra by
pushing the play button. This new way of working is fantastic for every
composer. You will be able to hear your music without first having to pay an
orchestra. Also, it will make you think like the player of a certain instrument and
that makes one write better for that instrument. However, a real acoustic
symphonic orchestra with real people is of course the best...
Currently I work with the following software: East West Symphonic Orchestra
and Garritan
Personal Orchestra.-- Thomas Penders
2008
