Family Music Projects
Richard has already composed miniature musical sketches, based on the names of our grandchildren, grandneices, and grandnephews. This page continues that process with members of my immediate family, including wife, children, brothers, and parents.
There are many ways to translate words into music. One approach is to assign each letter of the musical alphabet (A - G) with all the letters in the alphabet. Maurice Ravel used a German model for this, using the German system, where B natural is ‘H’ and B is B flat. The rest of the alphabet lines up as seen in the chart below.
Using the letters from the full names, I determined the pitches to be used for each name. The unique character of each musically encrypted name inspires the style and historical influence of each miniature composition.
- KEY file - shows names in music notation
- MOVIE file - tracks the names in a movie of the score as it is performed. You can see the names in the score as they are performed. Playback will sound best through headphones or good speakers, such as a home theater system.
- MP3 file - no movie, but quicker to download.
- PDF file - to print the score.
James Kenneth Hicks
Jim passed away on 11/9/2024. I still have to remind myself that he is gone.
Here is a small musical work based on his name.
