Using plugins when I work in Sibelius pt 1

Hi everybody,

I've been using Sibelius software to score music on for 10 years now (maybe more). I switched from Finale once Sibelius became available for Mac. At that time, Sib. could not do many of the tasks that were, IMO essential to jazz writing but there was a ease of use that seemed to give one the feeling that one day many if not all of these features would be available. In the meantime, many of these features did become available along with enhancements I could not have imagined. Music software and peoples expectations of it are as varied as the many styles and genres of music (glad I'm not in that business). Sibelius has since added 'Dynamic Parts' along with some beauties like 'Change Instrument' great for woodwind doubles in the sax section - a huge time saver. More recently Magnetic Layout has helped to bring 'near perfect' layout in parts. A few versions back we were moving chords, rehearsal marks and various collision items out of the way. I'm waxing lyrical here so it may seem like I have no gripes - not true :) Those who know me well know that I saw huge potential in the 'Arrange' feature. Many have said, and I agree, it should have been called 'Orchestrate'. This feature was never finished and largely ignored since it came out in Sib. 2. The ability to 'explode' vertical harmonic structures and assign them to multiple staves is invaluable to any orchestrator who is under the gun. How could 'Arrange' work for me? If Sibelius would simply take the artificial intelligence out of the feature, or make it optional - that would be a huge start and would remove all the octave jumping while the software tries to disagree with your lead trumpeter's range. Yes, you could set up templates with this preset but we shouldn't have to workaround this. Handling of tuplets in Implode is the other issue - that can be gotten around by using Dave Foster's 'Reduce' plugin. His Explode plugin is limited to 4 voices making it useful to a point. Some writers sketch their brass big band into one staff ad want to explode 8-10 voices in one go. Five parts for saxophone sections etc.

Plugins have added features to Sibelius that are now part of my standard way of using the software for some years now. The plugin writers often donate their work or sell for low prices. Bob Zawalich has written some plugins that have changed the way I work entirely, as has Dave Foster, Neil Sands and more recently Roman Molino Dunn . I will write a blog on Bob's plugins soon and chose to start about Roman as his was the last plugin I downloaded. I recently worked on a producing a lot of parts for a Big Band performance and used a plugin that has not been released by Roman yet - AutoPartLayout. This was a raw version but still got me several steps closer to what I needed than the initial Sib layout. Roman intends to release this plugin soon and I would advice any arranger who produces his own parts or indeed engraver, to take a look at it. On my recent Zinc Bar gig I used Distribute Selection, Distribute Chords while on the 'Bird With Strings' gig with Steve Wilson I used the plugin for writing bowings in.

More to come...

Zinc Bar Gig (April 29th) Pt 1.

On a recent Sunday performance at the Jazz For Kids show at Jazz Standard I was pleasantly surprised to see Alex Kossi from Zinc Bar along with his family. I hadn't seen Alex in nearly 10 years (at a guess) so it was great to catch up. Within the week I met Alex at Zinc Bar's new location where we settled on a performance date for my new big band The David O'Rourkestra. Folks ;) This is not just any gig to me - it marks my first time to lead a band in a NYC jazz club in a number of years since I backed off performing when arranging took a hold of me. Sure, I strapped on the guitar for private parties and other under the radar gigs accompanying vocalists etc but I seemed to lose interest in leading a band. In the meantime the Jazz Standard Youth Orchestra and it's impact on it's members and alumni began to take on a life of it's own while providing me with a lot feeling of fulfillment as I watched these very talented youngsters grow into great performers.

For the Zinc Bar gig I will be joined by Jennifer O'Rourke and Nina D'Alessandro on vocals - [Joseph Walsh will make a guest appearance also]. Pianist George Mesterhazy, Bassist Alex Herrnandez, drummer Jon Mele make up the rhythm section along with yours truly on guitar. I will follow this post with updates that will include more background on the upcoming, the musicians who will be joining me etc. I will post about George Mesterhazy and my trips to Cape May to perform with George's Trio at the Merion Inn.

Back later...

So what have you been up to? and other questions Part 1

One of my dreams coming to the USA was to know the feeling of playing jazz with great players 6-7 nights per week and even multiple gigs per night. My stint as house bandleader at 27 Standard (upstairs from The Jazz Standard - now Blue Smoke) gave me just that. For a brief period I was still playing in Seleno Clarke's band in Harlem doubling up on gigs at weekends (6+ sets per night). This became hectic whenever I was also trying to write for a new project but somehow I got it done. It was not unusual for me to get sick at the tail end of a project having pushed myself to my own limit. I always felt torn between playing live and writing but never really had to choose one over the other as I was never slammed with work in both disciplines at the same time and for a sustained period of time. Despite my love of arranging, the cost of a large ensemble combined with my not having a 'name' in the field made it less likely for big projects to come my way.

It was while playing the last Cork jazz Festival with Jeremy Pelt, Lewis Nash and Peter Washington that Jeremy asked me about writing the string arrangements for his upcoming "Close To My Heart" recording. I was thrilled to be asked for a number of reasons - great tunes, great band and the rare chance to use strings in a jazz setting. I had studied Big Band writing extensively - still do along with orchestration. I became aware that while I could purchase many great big band writer's scores I couldn't seem to get any arrangements for strings/orchestra in the way I could purchase classical scores. I had basic questions - how did these guys divide the string section to accommodate jazz harmony or dance band harmony as it was sometimes called in the period just before and after World War II. I set about on a search of scores by the great master writers and soon found an avalanche of approaches and got answers to many of my questions. I will make this research the subject of blog post by itself.

Along the way I had attended Daniel Barenboim's conducting workshop for the Carnegie Hall education department, knowing that I would need more than a basic knowledge of this great art if I was to get the best out of my own arrangements. The opening moments of Wagner's Prelude and Liebestod to Tristan & Isolde was a defining moment for me. Having just turned 40 I was not in a position to start full time conservatory to embark upon studies to become a conductor but I reminded myself that my musical journey had always had my impulse at it's fore. As I began to write more, including for the then newly formed Jazz Standard Youth Orchestra (JSYO) I began to play the guitar less and less. I was excited by the opportunities to write for different ensembles and express that side of myself for the first time in a sustained way.

I got married to Jennifer, we had our first baby Finn. By this stage I hadn't taken out the guitar in some time and it was only as a result of Jennifer nagging me, under protest to play for Finn because she didn't want him growing up and finding out his daddy had played guitar for a living and he not know that side of me. She hit a nerve! My Dad had stopped playing piano as a result of his alcoholism by the time I was growing up and I, being the youngest have no recollection of him playing in his prime - my brother Michael does though! He sat under the baby grand piano mesmerized by the sounds he heard. Back to Jennifer and Finn ;) I grumbled about Finn being 6 months old and what's he going to care etc As soon as I played a calypso for him he went crazy! Next I played some jazz and improvised and he was clearing loving it while Jennifer gave me that 'see what I mean' look! Around this time I was communicating with Alan Traynor on Skype. Alan was living in Kansas City and was frustrated by his progress on the guitar. Taking the guitar in hand to show Alan some stuff is now one of my fondest memories both for his gratitude for anything I'd show him but also for the reminded to myself of the joy I could bring someone through my guitar playing - Thanks Alan! Also around this time Peter Bernstein found out I hadn't been playing when he reached out for some help with his arrangements for the Blue Note 7 band. He shoved his guitar into my hand upon arrival in his house - I mentioned to Peter that I had a chance to play at the Plaza Hotel in a month's time to which he responded "A month! You could get ready for a marathon in a month!" Up to this point I had conducted the RTE Concert Orchestra twice in Nelson Riddle Tributes and found my stepping into new shoes not sitting well with some while at the same time feeling terrific support from others. You only live once! In Part 2 I will talk about my return to regular performance on the guitar...

Best to all,

David

Well here I am ;)

Hi everybody,

Welcome to my new blog. In an earlier version of my website I had a 'journal' and a few devoted readers. Here I will keep the same approach of posting some posts about music, some personal and sometimes the inevitable mix of everything. Watch this space and I'll see you soon!

David