FAQ

Q: Where can I get the sheet music for this piece?
A: Sheet music for this can be found here:
http://www.musanim.com/pdf/ChopinNocturneOpus27no2.pdf

Q: Where can I get the MIDI file for this piece
http://www.musanim.com/midi/ChopinOpus27n2.mid

Q: Can I follow the person who made this video on Twitter?
A: Sure, Stephen Malinowski’s Twitter ID is: musanim

Q: This sure sounds/looks clunky.
A: Yeah, I agree. I made a better version; you can see it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1QM6YZC45g

Q: What do the colors mean?
A: Interval types shown with colored lines (however, the color key at the beginning is incorrect: m2/M7 are red, the same as A4/d5.)

Q: How can I make this kind of display for my music?
A: This type of display is available as the “YARN” display in the MAM Player.
www.musanim.com/player/

Q: What piano are you using?
A: I believe this is a Yamaha P-80

Q: How and when did you make this rendition?
A: I made this rendition in the early days of MIDI (1980s, I think), by laying down left hand and right hand tracks individually, not in real time.

Q: Please tell me more about the composer.
A: You can read about the composer here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chopin

Q: How can I make this kind of movie?
A: The MAM Player is available here:
http://www.musanim.com/player/
.

Duration : 0:6:8

Technorati Tags: Animation, harmony, music, score, scrolling, theory, visualization

Q: Can I get free sheet music for this piece?
A: Yes, you can download the score shown in the video from here:
http://www.musanim.com/pdf/BeethovenMoonlightSonata_mvt1.pdf

Q: Can I follow the person who made this video on Twitter?
A: Sure, Stephen Malinowski’s Twitter ID is: musanim

Q: What do the colors in the bar-graph score mean?
A: The colors indicate the “pitch class” of the notes; that is, every C# is a certain color (blue), every E is a certain color (olive green), etc. The piece is in the key of C# minor, so there’s lots of blue and green, especially at the beginning and end. The choice of colors is based on the “circle of fifths,” which you can read about here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_of_fifths
This method of coloring notes is described more here:
http://www.musanim.com/mam/pfifth.htm
Because this form of coloring reflects tonality, the places where the piece moves into another key are easily visible; here’s a picture of the whole piece:
http://www.musanim.com/img/FuerEliseWholePiece.gif
BTW, the colors are more distinct in the high-quality version of the video.

Q: What did this sheet music look like back in Beethoven’s time?
A: Here is a facsimile of the first edition, printed in 1802.
http://www.musanim.com/pdf/BeethovenMoonlightFirstEdition.pdf

Q: What do the light/dark areas in the bar-graph score show?
A: They show the effect of the damper pedal.

Q: What do the x’s in the score mean?
A: Those are double-sharps. A sharp goes up one semitone (F to F-sharp) and a double sharp goes up two semitones (F to F-double-sharp, same key on the piano as G).

Q: Who is playing? Who are you? How long have you been playing the piano?
A: See this:
http://www.musanim.com/faq/whoareyou.html

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/

Q: You said “it’s well documented that different synesthetes have different associations.” Where is this documented? I read on Wikipedia that “synesthetes, as a group, share significant preferences for the color of each letter.”
A: It’s true that there are some patterns in the associations synesthetes make between colors and letters (or numerals, pitches, etc.), but the Wikipedia article is misleading in suggesting that there’s anything approaching a unanimity of opinion. On this page, I’m collecting some references and pointers to research so that you can draw your own conclusions based on the data:
http://www.musanim.com/synesthesia/

Q: Could you please do a MAM video of _________?
A: First, check my “to do” 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).
.

Duration : 0:7:33

Technorati Tags: Animation, beethoven, classical, moonlight, music, piano, sheet, sonata

Q: Where can I get free sheet music for this piece?
A: Here’s a copy, thanks to Clint S. Mars:
http://www.musanim.com/pdf/debussyclairdelune.pdf

Q: I wish I could play this piece.
A: You can! If you have a MIDI setup (MIDI keyboard with damper pedal, MIDI piano, and a computer running Windows or Mac OS X), you can play this piece using the conductor program. You need to learn the piece really well, but you don’t need to learn to play the piano. The article describing how this works is here
http://www.musanim.com/tapper/
and the software is available here (free)
http://www.musanim.com/tapper/TapperDownload.html
The performance used in this video was done using this software!

Q: Where can I download this song?
A: You can get it at iTunes:
http://tinyurl.com/ad9vnc
or at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Clair-De-Lune-Debussy/dp/B001OIUS90

Q: Is it just me, or does this piece make everyone cry?
A: Maybe not everyone, but lots of people …
http://www.musanim.com/youtube/ClairDeLuneCrying.html

Q: Can you please do a video of ________?
A: First, check my to-do list:
http://www.musanim.com/all/MAMToDoList.html
If the music you want isn’t there, then read the “Could you please” question here:
http://www.musanim.com/mam/mamfaq.html#copyright
If the music you want isn’t on the list and seems like something I might do, email me:
http://www.musanim.com/mam/contact.html

Q: This is not the Clair de lune I learned growing up in France.
A: You may be thinking of the song Au clair de la lune:
http://www.musanim.com/img/AuClairDeLaLune.jpg

Q: What happened to my comment?
A: Questions answered in the FAQ and comments with nothing to do with the video (”spam”) are removed. If you posted a comment and don’t know why it’s gone, email me (stephen at musanim dot com) with “YouTube comment” in the subject line.

Q: Is this the same recording as on the soundtrack?
A: No; Stephen Malinowski made this one. Compare the two and let me know what you think.

Q: How did you make this video?
A: You can read about it here:
http://www.musanim.com/ProductionNotes/ClairDeLune.html

Q: What do the colors mean?
A: Each pitch class (C, C-sharp, D, D-sharp, etc.) has it’s own color, and the colors are chosen by mapping the musician’s “circle of fifths” to the artist’s “color wheel.” You can read more about this here:
http://www.musanim.com/mam/pfifth.htm

Q: Who is Debussy?
A: A French composer; you can read about him here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debussy

Q: Where can I learn more about this piece?
A: This Wikipedia article is a good place to start:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suite_bergamasque

Q: The audio/video isn’t very good; can I get the original movie?
A: Yes, you can get it here (you have to sign up, but then you can download it):
http://www.vimeo.com/90612

Q: Wasn’t this in Fantasia?
A: Almost. There originally was a Clair de lune segment in the film, but it was cut from the final release. It’s on the Fantasia Legacy Supplemental Features DVD.

Q: How can I make this kind of movie?
A: Check out this:
http://www.musanim.com/player/

Q: Can I use this audio/video in my project?
A: Please send me an email (stephen at musanim dot com) describing your project and I’ll let you know whether it’s okay.

Q: This is cool; where can I get a list of everything you’ve done like this?
A: Here’s the best place:
http://www.musanim.com/watch/ for more about this movie and others.
.

Duration : 0:5:7

Technorati Tags: Animation, art, music, score, visualization

If you try to play along, you may notice that the transcription for the head is transposed for C and the solo’s in Bb. Weird, I know, but the transcription book that I based this animation on was in concert.

You can buy the sheet music here:
http://www.amazon.com/John-Coltrane-Plays-Giant-Steps/dp/0793563453

Duration : 0:4:51

Technorati Tags: Animation, Coltrane, dancohen, Famous, Fast, Flanagan, Giant, Jazz, John, piano, Saxophone, Solo, Steps, Tommy, Transcription