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Newsletter April 2007

IN THIS EDITION OF THE NEWSLETTER

1. A greeting from Audrey Podmore, the face behind The Full Pitcher.
2. MIDIgrid Creative Music Software
3. Our Composers
4. New PDF Downloads
5. Flexible Ensembles

1. GREETINGS FROM DIRECTOR, AUDREY PODMORE

Welcome to the April edition of The Full Pitcher Newsletter. We’ve had another very busy period since the last issue, in January/February! We’re absolutely delighted to have recently acquired the publishing and distribution rights to York University’s "MIDIgrid for Windows" software and, I’m afraid, everything else has ‘gone out of the window’ in the past few weeks, as we have worked on developing the website at www.midigrid.com and preparing our first edition of the software.

Our work on the "Get Creative" area of the site and community development have had to wait a little longer, but we are strongly committed to these activites. In the meantime, I am publishing short articles in the "Making Music Matters!" blog and some items, like the improvisation ideas for beginners, will be developed later onsite. Audrey’s Blog

The more versatile -and, by the same token, useful - a resource is, the more difficult it is to 'market'. This makes problems for us because we are committed to flexiblility and responsiveness to individual needs. One of the ways in which we express this commitment is through publishing truly flexible arrangements for groups of mixed instruments and abilities and you can read a little about these arrangements, below. I have, personally, used every one of these ensembles with extremely diverse groups and hope they will make life a little easier for fellow musicians!

2. MIDIgrid Creative Music Software

MIDIgrid and The Full Pitcher go together "like peaches and cream"! The idea for this most unusual software grew out of York University’s work with the Composers’ Desktop Project. Because it is completely open-ended, a kind of musical paint-box, it can be used to create, play and record music in any style and can be used at all ages and levels of ability. Composers have used it to assemble and experiment with the building blocks of new compositions; creative musicians have used it as a virtual instrument on which to improvise; teachers have created interactive learning resources and, with it, therapists have provided access to performance for people with severe disabilities.

MIDIgrid can be used without any additional hardware, playing back through the computer’s internal soundcard but, as it has a full MIDI specification, it is highly desirable to add a MIDI interface in order to make full use of its more advanced facilities. Its modest £55 price tag places it within reach of those making their first acquaintance with computer-based music, as well of those equipped with other MIDI-based hardware. more.....

3. Our Composers

We have recently added pages to the website with biographical material about some of our composers. A founding principle of our publishing company was to facilitate the distribution of resources from creative musicians who share our aims. You can find out about the work of some of these musicians in the "Get Creative" section of the site. We have now added information about some of the composers whose sheet music features in our catalogue. You can access these biographies from the "About Us" page. About Us

4. New PDF Downloads

We have added a number of new easy piano scores for you:

1.We have converted several of Natalia Kouznetsova’s compositions and her arrangements of favourite classical themes to the new formats, so the PDF scores are now available from the store and you can listen to all these pieces, in Flash audio. Easy Piano

2.We have added to the catalogue nine easy jazzy piano pieces by Johan Hugosson, which are sure to go down well with young ‘jazzers’, grades 1-3. Easy Piano

3. As promised last time, the "Clarinet for Beginners" scores have now been converted to the new formats. These provide PDF downloads for use from the very first lesson to about the standard of a UK Grade 1 exam. Clarinet for Beginners

5. Flexible Ensembles

Teachers, and other music leaders, seldom have the luxury of conducting standard ensembles of evenly matched abilities. Finding music to accommodate their ad-hoc groups of instruments and players can be a real challenge! It can also prove very expensive if it means buying packs with lots of parts irrelevant to the needs of the ensemble.

The Full Pitcher's Flexible Ensembles and Easy Ensembles can solve this problem. The scores are available as PDF downloads ((£2.50 each). This gives teachers the opportunity to check out the individual parts and determine how they would like to assign them and any transpositions desirable. Parts can usually be mixed and matched to create duets, trios, quartets, etc. and include musically interesting music but non-essential music for less able players. In some situations, this printable score is all that a teacher requires. You can listen to the arrangements online and individual players can use the online playback as a practice aid.

The printed sheet music can be ordered as a custom pack for each title, consisting of a score and twelve instrumental parts (7.95). Each instrumental part can be supplied in any transposition. On receipt of your order, we will email you a checklist to select the instruments/transpositions you require. We are very happy to answer any queries you may have, by email or telephone.