Friday, March 27, 2009

Music Anyone?

In 1984, I took a music appreciation class at UCLA. I don't remember the composer I studied for that class. I'd have to look it up. But the important part of this story is that I could get extra credit if I went to see a little movie called "Amadeus" and turned in my movie stub to the professor. Seeing a movie was not hard to do, living in Westwood. So, I went to see it. It was one of the most profound musical experiences of my life. I immediately bought the soundtrack. It is now on my iPod. Twenty-five years later, I never tire of it.

The most memorable scene in the movie for me is when Salieri, who is in an insane asylum, describes a particular piece of Mozart's music. He describes it so beautifully and in such vivid language. I figured it wouldn't be hard to find that part of the movie on YouTube, and I was right.




I eventually found the score for this part of the work, having worked at the UCLA Music Library. But over the years, the copy of those pages of the score have disappeared. Could I find the score again? Online, for free?

First, I had to get the title and number. Specifically, it is Serenade for Winds in B-flat, K. 361 3rd movement (Adagio). I found the name of the piece on Amazon by searching for the soundtrack. I got the specific movement from Classical Archives.com.

I wanted to find the score for free. I looked at the free sheet music sites I know, but no luck. I finally Googled it and found Sheetmusicfox.com. I found the piece and downloaded it for free. The movement I was looking for starts on page 21.

Well, now, I have the score, but only a portion of the music. YouTube to the rescue. Follow along on the sheet music if you like.



All this for free. And a little Secret Agent knowledge.

1 comment:

  1. At the risk of being obsequious, I must complement you for finding your voice so quickly. What do I mean? This post, I believe, epitomizes what a blog can do. As I watched you do all the leg work creating the on-line resources for Rivendell, I lost count of how many anecdotes you had like the one above. What's even better is how you've integrated yourself and communicated some useful "Secret Agent" knowledge.

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