William J. Ball Memorial

[Mike Moss]

Hi all,

next month (Thursday, April 12, 2012) will be the 12th anniversary of the passing of the great William J. Ball.

Since the Great Man's only composition, Twilight Caprice, only exists in manuscript form (kindly provided by his son on his excellent webpage), I thought we could attempt to "publish" a clean, digitalized and well-edited version of his magnum opus as a memorial to his work.

I have started to edit the 1st and 2nd parts in traditional Classic Banjo annotated sheet music, but if someone would volunteer to work on a TAB version it could be a good addition to make this piece of music available to the general banjo-playing public.

Likewise, if anyone would like to attempt a recording or internet duet, I think it would be a fitting tribute for it to be performed in his honour.

Any suggestions?

Mike

[Trapdoor2]

LOL, OK...non-parallel minor, due to that little flatted thingy...I got cornfused. Never mind!

Trapdoor2 said:

I started on it last night, got thru the A part, no problem. Found/corrected the error in bar 16. Working out which part leads to which other part took a bit of study on my end. I've been listening to Bill Ball's recording this morning...which will help a good bit.

The tempo marking is "moderato"...for which I use 108bpm. In playback of the MIDI, 108 is crazily fast. I've 'guesstimated' Mr. Ball's recording at a much more languid 70 bpm. Would y'all think it better to translate the tempo guides into English? I had to look up "più mosso"...

Am I right in thinking the part in five flats is Dbmaj...so the modulation is to/from Dm (one flat), a parallel minor?

[Mike Moss]

Hi Marc,

yes, I think it's Dbmaj... a common key on the piano, and, actually, I can see many piano-like influences in this composition, probably due to the 10-year hiatus during which he focused his efforts on the piano.

[Trapdoor2]

Wholly sox, Batman. This thing is difficult to get into the computer. Plus, I haven't had much time to spend on it. So far I've done the first page...and it is tedious and time-consuming trying to figure out the fingering on the fly. I hope you're having better luck with it!

It is a great tune though. I marvel at some of the changes/modulations in it...it sounds quite "sophisticated" to my ear.

The way the parts are laid out is confusing (to me). I have it sorted...but every time I look at it I have to re-evaluate. I'm used to "AABBAC" style directions. The 'play A to B without repeat then C" threw me until I realized it was to be applied to the end of page 1.

[Mike Moss]

I can play through the A part and have only begun to fiddle with B -- it is fairly obvious that the lower voice in the B part should exclusively be played on the 4th string even though it is tempting to find those notes on the treble strings.

 

Once I'm done writing down the music and fingerings I'll send it over to you. It reflects the way which feels more natural to me, with a moderate but not excessive amount of position playing. For instance, I the three notes after the twiddly-dee at 15PB on the 1st and 2nd strings even though I could do it from 15 PB; it just sounds better and feels more natural that way.

 

I agree, the tune is great and it's an excellent addition to the Classic Banjo repertoire. It has an odd, nostalgic feel to it as it is firmly steeped in the past yet looking towards the future... very ambitious and unusual choices in keys and modulations. If there is a composition which could pave the way for the future of original Classic Banjo compositions, this is it.

[Trapdoor2]

Yes...I generically put the lower voice on the 4th string...and some of it is very tempting to lay out on others. Usually, I key everything in and then go grab a banjo to see how the notes lay...and work from there.

Of course, sometimes I don't "figure it out" correctly until years later. I see fingering gaffes in my earlier TABs all the time.