View Single Post
Old 09-28-2020, 03:13 PM   #287
Galadriel55
Blossom of Dwimordene
 
Galadriel55's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: The realm of forgotten words
Posts: 10,299
Galadriel55 is lost in the dark paths of Moria.Galadriel55 is lost in the dark paths of Moria.Galadriel55 is lost in the dark paths of Moria.Galadriel55 is lost in the dark paths of Moria.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Huinesoron View Post
Strictly speaking this isn't Zong news (though a preview might have snuck in), but it's definitely Zong-adjacent: when I went back to the office I started wearing a variety of pin-badges on my jacket, which finally gave me an excuse to order one of Jenny Dolfen's beautiful enamels. Of course, then I got sent back to work from home again, so it's not going to be used, but... it came!

There was literally no possibility that I wouldn't go for Finrod... The Maglor advert-card is a lovely bonus, and frankly a lot nicer than the Red Nasmith I had on my wall back at uni.
This photo made my day. Honestly. I was having an absolutely foul morning, dreading the start of a new (disorganized, far away, not favourite by any means) rotation. And then you posted this, and both Finrod and Maglor were so on point that it just made everything better. Thanks for posting it!

Now I wanna get a pin like that. Except that all of my pins have a very short life, and usually end it by being brutally deformed and ripped from my bag after snagging on something. The Sil characters tend to already suffer enough, without a metaphorical re-enactment.



But in Zong-related news, you are not the only one who gets easily distracted! I was supposed to be preparing for my rotation yesterday. Instead...

Oath: the dress rehearsal, and sung for singability test, with no attempts to correct the off key bits. You can also tell that still my brain insists that blood in the veins can only turn anemic.

There are many variations in how exactly to sing it, even among the different performances. I think that the most difficult thing will actually be to agree on a timing/rhythm for each line for duo-ing if we can get someone to join you (possibly Legate again; no one else has responded to me so far - but if we're truly desperate, there is one more person I can try. I'll have to ask someone to ask someone to ask for his contact info though, I haven't seen him in a decade...).

I had a few things I wanted to run by you. In no particular order:
- The middle part, with the Oath. Too quiet? I was going for something ethereal (holy?), not sure how that worked out.
- The versions differ in how they sing the middle part. There is the V2 "sing the whole thing on one note" option. There is the "have it go one note higher, one note lower" option. And a couple of performances alternated between the two. The way it's written it can be sung any way, but I tried to match it to the way I was singing it: single note for first and third stanzas, alternating on second stanza. The pros of this approach are that it emphasizes each part anew, there's no endless repetition, and it highlights "Breath of the West Wind" more if you hit it from the lower constant note rather than the alternating ones which are closer to it. On the downside, it's probably harder to sing this way. Let me know what you think is a good balance for you in terms of sings well - I can alter the music to put a bit more cues in to help match that, maybe.
- I used an un-dirged and slightly un-heroed version of the first attempt for the last stanza, "one by one seven Oath-bound warriors fall". I think that one can go with a bit of despair/heroism, especially if now Cel'n'Cur kinda take over Mae'n'Mag. But if you think it's too much, I can tone it down some more.
- Speaking of that verse, I played around with the rhythm on "those who... those still... Oath will still". Is there a version that you particularly like or dislike? Or should I just make it all in unison?
- Do you think "Swear to this Oath" should be sung by CelnCur, or by someone else (ie one or more of the female crew)? I vote for it to be recorded separately, at least, so that it doesn't cut off the previous phrases short to draw breath.
- Actually, with regards to that line: "swear to this Oath" vs "sworn is the Oath"?

Thanks to this song, I finally learned how to do the 3 note conclusion at the end, which many musical pieces use, but I didn't know which chords they use to make that effect. Now that I think about it, I've learned quite a few tricks while arranging the Zong. It's been quite educational. ^.^
__________________
You passed from under darkened dome, you enter now the secret land. - Take me to Finrod's fabled home!... ~ Finrod: The Rock Opera
Galadriel55 is offline   Reply With Quote