Crepitation Rag

Keith O. Edwards

Genre: Swing

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Description

Just in time for St. Valentine's Day, I have a wacky Halloween number. (Funny how I get the two days confused.)

This took me about 32 hours to write, and I had complained at the Classical Archives Forum that it took me eight hours to work out the syncopation of the first strain -- which lasts a mere 28 seconds. A young symphonist there was incredulous that I was so slow at creating music. "That's easy for you to say," I shot back. "You're just imitating Beethoven. I'm imitating Ricky Ricardo!" (He of course had no idea of what I was talking about.)

Attention school band directors! The score and parts for this piece are available for a nominal fee at my page at SibeliusMusic where you can watch the notes go by as the music plays.

The artwork is an engraving by Gustave Doré (1833-83) which depicts a party in a suburb of Hell.

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Song Stats

Hits: 1981
Comments: 9
Fans: 3
Plays: 370
Downloads: 88
Votes: 8
Uploaded: Feb 01, 2006 - 09:21:16 AM
Last Updated: Jul 15, 2006 - 10:09:27 PM Last Played: Nov 20, 2009 - 02:12:40 PM

Song License

Creative Commons License:
Attribution-NonCommercial

Song Actions

Keywords:

Halloween (48), ragtime (22), novelty (5)

Hardware:

Dual G4 -- Mirrored Doorway

Software:

Sibelius 3

Comments

drakonis

drakonis said 1389 days ago (February 1st, 2006)

Hell for Comedians
7 levels of hand buzzers, whoopie cushions and rubber chickens... As we
descend, suburb by suburb, from Amityville, past CruellaDeVille, all the
way to the bottom of the pit, Vaudeville... with the audience writhing in
tortured horror at the silliness. Ahem. Anyway, I loved the off-kilter
syncopation as the music lurches and wobbles along. Orchestration was
enjoyable (I'd have reduced the frequency of the recurring whistle a little
though, just used it a couple of times.) And of course I A-Dor� the
artwork. Made me smirk all morning.
ttfn,
Drakonis

Check out my latest song called Lullaby for the Inner Child

dreadmon

dreadmon said 1389 days ago (February 1st, 2006)

wholly original
this is a delightful piece of work - a demented arrangement and some of the oddest colors I've heard in a ragtime piece. It's downright progressive in spots - this would be a hoot played by a small ensemble. I can hear all of what you were going for - some of the mix here is uneven and the whole thing could come WAY up - but for me, that doesn't detract from the delightful and decadent nature of this little gem. There's a bit of Danny Elfman from "Nightmare Before Christmas" floating around in there (maybe an influence?), but you make it wholly your own through all of its twists and turns.

Check out my latest song called Dive!

echoroom	echoroom said 1388 days ago (February 3rd, 2006)
	er... dunno what to make of this - it starts off like the scooby-doo music, and then turns into a nightmare at the fairground. Quite unlike anything I've heard at MJs before, andmade me want to bounch around the room. Great man - you should be working for Hannah barbara. Check out my latest song called Deeper (w/t Racerat)

	said 1368 days ago (February 23rd, 2006)
	rag it this is another great piece Mr. Edwards. I like the arrangement, the drums were great. Great to see some people here are still having fun with music. I must play this on my fretless bass :). Very cool piece. Cheers J.K

nyakki	nyakki said 1363 days ago (February 27th, 2006)
	The OMG award This is, hands down, the winner of nyakki's OMG award. Originality through the roof. The concept is solid and you pulled it off very well. But it wasn't so off the wall that originality overshadowed the enjoyment of the song. Nicely done. Downloaded Check out my latest song called Maple Leaf Rag v2

Keith O. Edwards

Keith O. Edwards said 1362 days ago (February 28th, 2006)

The OMG award
Naaaah! Naaaah! You guys need to realize that everything I'm doing is merely a pale imitation of Fletcher Henderson (orchestration), Chick Webb (drums), Eubie Blake and all the other great originals of American music. Search on the 'net for a MIDI version of James P. Johnson's Jungle Drums to hear the genuine article. I have fun working-out the syncopation and bizarre harmony, but I'm light-years beneath the level of those guys.

My hero, W. P. English (1867-1916?), was an itinerant tuba player in circus bands throughout the American Midwest, and I'm generally mimicking his novelty number, Instantaneous Rag (which is curiously available at iTunes). Listen to that, and then tell me if you think I'm doing anything original. Long before ring modulators and oscillators were developed, circus bands all had an assortment of whistles and sirens to be used during the clown acts. This was carried to an extreme by Spike Jones & His City Slickers. (Jones fired revolvers as part of the music.)

As hard as I try, I know I'll never be able to approach the level of the "screwy" arrangements of Raymond Scott (1908-1994). I'd become confused and disoriented trying to think-up so many notes. Scott was also the father of electronic music -- the late Robert Moog studied with him. He was so advanced that it's possible he was an alien from another dimension.

Music Education time: Why do we refer to a song or a tune as a "number"? It's because circus musicians all carried a thick binder of sheet music with each piece numbered in a specific order. When the band director would call for the next piece of music to be played, he'd shout out its number in the book. Karl L. King's great march Barnum & Bailey's Favorite was number 555 in the book.

Check out my latest song called Hallucination Rag

Monkaton	Monkaton said 1343 days ago (March 19th, 2006)
	Super This is one of the best songs I've heard here, or any where. I like all your influences, although I admit I don't know the tuba player. Henderson and Scott though are favorites of mine. Great stuff. Excellent orchestration. Check out my latest song called Darkness of the Night

bronco	bronco said 1337 days ago (March 25th, 2006)
	Loved It Sometimes when I hear songs like this I wonder why I bother writing my simple little songs. I guess we are each inspired by our influences and should be happy with what we have and not what we don't but this piece really made me feel insignificant while admiring what you have done. Check out my latest song called Strange Feeling

rfwilmut	rfwilmut said 1130 days ago (October 18th, 2006)
	Great fun Nice one, Keith, I enjoyed it. Could I make one slight comment - on both this and 'Afraid of the Dark' you've clipped the end, which slightly spoils the effect - it's worth letting the reverberation die away. Check out my latest song called A Windows User's Lament

Fan List

nyakki

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rfwilmut

Artist Info

Name: Keith O. Edwards

The Siege of Veracruz (march) from Keith Otis Edwards on Vimeo.... [see more]

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Genre Info

Swing music, also known as swing jazz, is a form of jazz music that developed during the 1920s and solidified as a distinctive style during the 1930s in the United States. Swing is distinguished primarily by a strong rhythm section, usually including

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