Pachelbel's celebrated "Canon in D," performed by Voices of Music, accompanied by scrolling graphical and symbolic scores. FAQ Q: Where can I get the sheet music for this piece? A: The score that's shown in the video can be downloaded here http://www.musanim.com/pdf/PachelbelCanon_score.pdf and parts that you can perform from are here: http://www.musanim.com/pdf/PachelbelCanon_parts.pdf and here's an arrangement for flute quartet (ZIP file with score and parts) http://www.musanim.com/pdf/CanonArrFluteQuartet.zip Q: Who is playing this music? A: The group is called Voices of Music; the performers in this piece are Katherine Kyme, Carla Moore and Cynthia Miller Freivogel, baroque violin, Tanya Tomkins, baroque violoncello, Hanneke van Proosdij, baroque organ, and David Tayler, theorbo Q: It says "in D" but it sounds like it's in C-sharp to me. A: That's true; this performance is at what referred to as "old pitch," a pitch level that was more common when the piece was written. Q: These performers are wonderful; where I can hear more? A: Voices of Music record on the Magnatune label: http://magnatune.com/artists/voicesofmusic Q: Where can I get the mp3 of this? A: This recording will be available at Magnatune pretty soon. Q: Why does the title say "1 of 3"? A: I'm planning to do three versions of this piece. The second version shows Voices of Music performing; it's here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gjQJuQN6hs (and a second version of it with thinner note bars is here): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cweUyEDwd3o The third version will show more about how the canon works. Q: The bar-graph score and the conventional notation don't match; why is that? A: The notation is similar to what the performers looked at when they were playing, but the bar-graph score is a little closer to what they actually did. To make the bar-graph score, I started with the original score, then listened to the performance and made various adjustments. Mostly, I added the trills and made notes shorter; I also transcribed some of the notes of the organ and theorbo (which were improvised during the performance and not written down anywhere). Then, I adjusted the timing of this modified score so that the beats matched the beats in the recording; this worked pretty well except at the very end, where the tempo changed a lot within a single beat. Q: What is a "canon"? A: As usual, Wikipedia has some good articles about this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_%28music%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachelbel%27s_Canon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Pachelbel Q: Is there a way I could make the bar-graph scores myself? A: The Music Animation Machine MIDI file player will generate this display; you can get the (Windows) software here: http://www.musanim.com/player/ There are lots of places on the web where you can get MIDI files; I usually go to the Classical Archives site first: http://www.classicalarchives.com/ If you want to upload your videos to YouTube, you might want to read this: http://www.musanim.com/youtube/HowToMakeMamVideos.html Q: Could you please do a MAM video of _________? A: First, check my "to do" list (and the related "to don't" list): http://www.musanim.com/all/MAMToDoList.html ... If the piece isn't listed, read the "Could you please do a MAM video of _________?" item on my main FAQ: http://www.musanim.com/mam/mamfaq.html#copyright ... and if you think I'd consider doing it, email me (stephen at musanim dot com). Q: Why do the scores move at different speeds? A: The bar-graph score is graphical, and in it, time translates exactly into horizontal position; conventional notation is symbolic, typically with one symbol per note, regardless of whether it's a long or a short note, and the symbols are more or less evenly spaced (for legibility); so, when the notes are faster, the notation needs to move faster to keep up. .

• published: 28 Oct 2009
• views: 1155242