Feb 2022 weird characterprofile improvisation musicals unintended-metronome long
original notes:
Hoo-boy, this is a weird one, even by my standards. This is for the Character Profile challenge. ( https://fawm.org/forums/topic/12395/ ) There's a website that generates characters. It's a little silly, as you'll see. My first attempt at this went nowhere. I was trying to generate a story based on the characters, and couldn't. So I sat on it for a couple weeks.
Cue today. Valentine's Day. I had the concept of doing a love song for Death. Specifically, the challenges that the embodiment of death would face in romantic situations.
But I needed a challenge for it. I'm doing exclusively challenges this year. What I wound up doing was generating four characters, and sought to explore the reality of Death trying to date these people.
As I said: Weird.
The characters generated are below. If anyone wants to set this to music, let me know. Otherwise, enjoy. :)
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Teri MacDonald, 100, lucky accountant
A lucky accountant from The Philippines is obsessed with ghosts. She always wears false teeth. Her top quality is that she is particularly polite. On Sundays, she likes to count her money.
Margaret Jones, 20, loyal woman
Margaret is a loyal woman who finds it hard to stay out of jail. She has crazy, orange hair. She strongly dislikes sheep. She is striving to redeem herself after pushing a homeless person off a cliff.
Healthy McLaughlin, 91, kind superhero
Healthy McLaughlin is a kind woman from Oxford who can only read when she is hungry. She has lips like soft petals. Her top quality is that she is particularly respectable. She is striving to redeem herself after stealing a loaf of bread in the dead of night.
Hudson Smyth, 19, rude history student
Hudson is a rude history student who finds it hard to put herself in other people's shoes. She looks young for her age. Her top quality is that she is particularly creative. She is striving to redeem herself after stealing a precious jewel.
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TIM says:
This performance is actually a one-shot improvisation with a bit of production fiddling subsequently, playing in and singing the improvised melody simultaneously. THe harmonies are based on a repeated Dorian sequence I-VII-VI-VII.
To get this sort of thing sort of right, and allow later editing (which hasn't been done), the metronome is essential for the MIDI side.
Despite appearances, there is one keyboard track and one vocal track. All the rest is fast and not-always-balanced production.
But this time I mucked up the mixer setting so the wretched metronome is on the vocal track and not where it should be. I can't get rid of it without redoing vocals, and i can't redo vocals until I've transcribed what was actually sung, and that ain't going to happen during FAWM, so we're all stuck with it.
I had fun with it!
Death, the embodiment of the end,
in romance I feel you need a friend.
In exchange for my eternal life,
I will help you find a wife.
Teri MacDonald is a fine choice indeed!
A hundred years old and just what you need!
She counts her money every Sunday.
Come on, Death, what do you say?
"I have no use for money, you know,
but a hundred years is quite a show...
But I see here with ghosts she is obsessed,
and I fear I would become so depressed
talking about work all the time,
so no, she is no wife of mine."
Margaret Jones was always the better choice!
She has such a nice and wild voice!
It's true she's been in jail before,
she killed a hobo and - "Whatever for?
Apologies for interrupting,
but I find that quite disgusting!
Dying may be inevitable, okay,
but we should be living fully every day!
Why speed up one's eventual demise?
She's not for me, I do surmise."
Healthy McLaughlin, now there's a catch!
Very respectable, your morals to match!
She's, uhh... Let me see...
Kind of boring, actually...
"Yes, I got that unfortunate impression.
Sounds like she has a sexual repression.
Respectable won't bring me back
if she's too timid in the sack!
I'll give you one last chance, friend.
On you I hope I can depend."
Hudson Smyth, yes, she's the one!
Creative, that's her. Loads of fun!
In bed she will not be a bore,
in fact, she's kind of a...
"Never mind that! I've made up my mind!
I know you really are being kind,
but I cannot abide this game any longer -
I need someone who is much, much stronger.
I'll go back to the Underworld now.
I'll find love myself, somehow."
Death, I really wish you all the best,
I just had to get that off my chest.
Are you still going to kill me, though?
"No."
@berni1954 Mar 2022
Weird, but very Terry Pratchet meets Kurt Weill in many ways. Incidentally DEATH always talks in Capital Letters in Pratchett's books. That would help to distinguish the two voices in the lyrics here.
Love the church organ - the perfect choice for this one.
@jaegerin Mar 2022
This is so great - weird in a very listenable way! Love the organ and metronome, too.
@sheilerk Mar 2022
Epic!! I had the almost overwhelming urge to race to the end of the lyric to know the verdict, but I restrained myself so I could enjoy hearing every delicious line! This was a spectacular four act play with no intermissions! I thought it was awesome!
@thesoundof Feb 2022
Sad but funny! Weird, yes but that suits to this topic so well. Excellent work.
@cblack Feb 2022
Ha! Thanks, Tim. That was epic. And I kind of like the metronome... The relentless march of time.
(My name's not Chris, by the way. ;) )
@timfatchen Feb 2022
Applause! Applause! Brilliant! {EDIT it seems to be happening of its own accord so I'd be interested in setting it if that's okay! sometimes these things happen}