• Home
  • Recordings
    • Water Bear CDs 1
    • Water Bear CDs 2
    • Orchestral and Chamber Pieces by Mer Boel
  • Sheet Music
    • Name Music
    • Fiddle Tunes
    • Orchestral & Chamber Music by Mer Boel
  • Photos
  • Videos
  • The Story
    • Bios
    • In The Beginning
    • Bears at play
    • About Name Music
    • Mapping System Chart
    • Praise & Press
    • Credits and Thanks
  • Mer's Blog

Water Bear

  • Home
  • Recordings
    • Water Bear CDs 1
    • Water Bear CDs 2
    • Orchestral and Chamber Pieces by Mer Boel
  • Sheet Music
    • Name Music
    • Fiddle Tunes
    • Orchestral & Chamber Music by Mer Boel
  • Photos
  • Videos
  • The Story
    • Bios
    • In The Beginning
    • Bears at play
    • About Name Music
    • Mapping System Chart
    • Praise & Press
    • Credits and Thanks
  • Mer's Blog
Back to all posts

Memorializing loved ones with Name Music pieces

 In 2020-2021 I composed Name Music pieces for many of the loved ones we’ve lost — aunts and uncles, cousins, friends, parents of friends, nephews and nieces of friends. This has helped me to grieve for them, this focusing in on the qualities they brought to life, and translating those qualities to musical expression. 

Yes I’m still using the letters-to-pitches mapping system I devised back in 2000 to inspire the beginning of the melody, but I’ve also been modifying the “rules” as often as I feel drawn to doing, in order to make a melody flow better and be easier to play. Mostly this means using the pitch in a different octave so that it is closer to the other pitches, so I can some of the string crossings (big leaps in melody) and have more step-wise, easy melody.

In “Abra” for example, the R is the pitch of E, in the second octave above middle C, (the open E string), but the other pitches are on the low G string, below middle C! So I moved the E down an octave so it is on the D string. Here’s what that change looks like -- pay attention to the first full measure.

Before:

After:

And it is much easier to play, without the big leap.

I decided to do the same thing but in the opposite direction with “Paul”, this time for the “a”, which would map as the A pitch below middle C (on the G string), but I put it up the octave — the other pitches would be played on the A and D strings, so it makes for less radical string crossings.

Before:

 

 After:

 

Sometimes though, the big leap is a key feature of one of the qualities of the person that I want to express — so for example in the piece “Guido”, in the first measure I kept the low G pitch of the first letter, and kept the Bb pitch of the second letter “u” in the higher octave (played on the A string), so the string crossing gives a sort of lumbering effect, which reminded me of how my uncle Guido walked. The way I “broke the rules” for the “Guido” piece instead was to wait on playing the “o” pitch (a B natural) until later in the piece (measure 5), and then yes I play the B in the lower octave, on the G string.

Guido:

 

Okay so I guess I’m all over the map on how I let the pitch system inspire me. But isn’t that what creativity and restrictions are all about? Letting the guardrails guide and inspire until they are too restrictive, at which point, let yourself burst out of the confines!

Very satisfying to me, composing is.

12/28/2021

  • Leave a comment
  • Share

Leave a comment

“Water Bear is the kind of music that makes you open up and breathe draughts of sunlight until you're filled up with happy” - Libby Larsen, American Composer
  • Log out

notes
0:00/???
  1. 1
    Walker Swing 1:03
    Your price

    Walker Swing

    Water Bear

    Please choose a price: $ USD ($0.50 or more)

    Please pay at least $0.50

    Out of stock
    0:00/1:03
  2. 2
    Elizabeth 5:59
    Your price

    Elizabeth

    Water Bear

    Please choose a price: $ USD ($1.00 or more)

    Please pay at least $1.00

    Out of stock
    0:00/5:59
  3. 3
    Nancy 4:14
    Your price

    Nancy

    Mer Boel & Ruth Roland

    Please choose a price: $ USD ($1.00 or more)

    Please pay at least $1.00

    Out of stock
    0:00/4:14
  4. 4
    JoanNelson 6:39
    Your price

    JoanNelson

    Please choose a price: $ USD ($1.00 or more)

    Please pay at least $1.00

    Out of stock
    0:00/6:39
  5. 5
    Carla 4:09
    Your price

    Carla

    Water Bear

    Please choose a price: $ USD ($1.00 or more)

    Please pay at least $1.00

    Out of stock
    0:00/4:09
  6. 6
    Joe 3:09
    Your price

    Joe

    Water Bear

    Please choose a price: $ USD ($1.00 or more)

    Please pay at least $1.00

    Out of stock
    0:00/3:09
  7. 7
    Otherworld 7:31
    Info
    Your price

    Otherworld

    Mer Boel

    Please choose a price: $ USD ($2.00 or more)

    Please pay at least $2.00

    Out of stock
    0:00/7:31
  8. 8
    EllenAndJerry 7:14
    Your price

    EllenAndJerry

    Water Bear

    Please choose a price: $ USD ($1.00 or more)

    Please pay at least $1.00

    Out of stock
    0:00/7:14
  9. 9
    George 6:51
    Your price

    George

    Water Bear

    Please choose a price: $ USD ($1.00 or more)

    Please pay at least $1.00

    Out of stock
    0:00/6:51
  10. 10
    Bridget 4:43
    Your price

    Bridget

    Please choose a price: $ USD ($1.00 or more)

    Please pay at least $1.00

    Out of stock
    0:00/4:43
  11. 11
    Carma- Live at ATC 9:08
    Your price

    Carma- Live at ATC

    Please choose a price: $ USD ($1.00 or more)

    Please pay at least $1.00

    Out of stock
    0:00/9:08
  12. 12
    Liquid Gold 4:01
    Info
    Your price

    Liquid Gold

    Mer Boel

    Please choose a price: $ USD ($1.00 or more)

    Please pay at least $1.00

    Out of stock
    0:00/4:01
  13. 13
    Cameron - Live at ATC 8:46
    Your price

    Cameron - Live at ATC

    Water Bear

    Please choose a price: $ USD ($1.00 or more)

    Please pay at least $1.00

    Out of stock
    0:00/8:46
0:00/???