Badinerie Excerpt MIDI - Update 5

Hello everyone and welcome back to update 5 on this 8 updates journey, or if you’re new, welcome!

J.S. Bach

To summarize so far, I was originally planning a transcription/arrangement of the Halo flute choir, but last week, I pivoted to creating an orchestral excerpt as a MIDI file and will be working towards performing over it. Last week, I determined that the flute choir project would not be feasible to do within the set time with no experience, so I had a lot of thinking to do. That is when I came up with this alternative.

This week had much more happening than any other week previously. After officially deciding to swap projects, I had much more motivation to continue. So, the MIDI itself is halfway complete already. It has up to the repeat completed in all parts. Creating a MIDI mostly requires only the notes. For Badinerie, because the flute is a soloist, I needed to put all other voices at mf and then put the flute at f to see how it all sounds. That also helps me catch any mistakes I make in transferring the notes.

The other half of this project is the preparation of this excerpt. I have been practicing the Badinerie in my personal time, and it will be up to tempo by the end of these 8 weeks. This week, I also began thinking about how to ornament this movement. There is so much that can be done in terms of ornamentation that it can become overwhelming. Thankfully, YouTube exists, and one could find a plethora of recordings on the same piece, all with different interpretations. Here is one I found that I really like the ornamentation of.

The things learned now will be pretty different than the last project, so we’ll have to get used to that. This project is teaching me more about the idea of improvised ornamentation, which is completely different than the last project, which was teaching me more about sticking with what I heard. Improvised ornamentation isn’t just ripping what I hear that I like, but taking the ideas presented them and “putting them in my own words”.

So what’s next? This next week, the MIDI file will be finished. Because of the small size and instrumentation of the Baroque orchestra, there aren’t many parts to work on. Next week is also the start of practicing with the MIDI. I already have an event to prepare for next Wednesday with the Badinerie, so the technical skills will be there. The only other way to prepare for the MIDI rehearsals is to practice with a metronome beating the eighth note. Much of the accompaniment in Baroque music is subdivided chords, which is the easiest way to practice any piece.

Painting of a Baroque orchestra

I hope to see you next week; we’re nearing the end!