All good-sounding, choral 13th chords

Here is a PDF of all good-sounding choral 13th chords (excluding transpositions) along with a MIDI. It contains 203 chords in an extreme choral range: F2 to A5, sorted in an order useful for music composition purposes.

This list also contains about fifteen chords which don't sound as good. However, I didn't detect a pattern I could use, in order to remove them automatically.

I removed all chords containing:

• Minor seconds;
• Minor ninths;
• Tritones;
• Two consecutive major seconds;
• More than two major seconds;
• Major seconds starting lower than F3 or higher than F4;
• Gaps greater than an octave which resume higher than F4.

Copyright (c) 2015 Mark D. Blackwell.

Justorum animae - Stanford, C.V. - select performances

Using Spotify, I selected IMHO the best available performances of "Justorum animae" by Charles Villiers Stanford:   :)

• Choir of St John's College, Cambridge
• Choir of St John's, Elora
• Choir of St Peter's College, Oxford
• Choir of Truro Cathedral
• District Eight Vocal Ensemble
• Exeter Cathedral Choir
• His Majestie's Clerkes
• Salt Lake Vocal Artists
• University of Utah Singers

These really are inspiring, don't you think?

Most transporting—so, shouldn't be ignored—are these gems:   :)

• Choir of St John's, Elora
• Choir of Truro Cathedral
• District Eight Vocal Ensemble
• Salt Lake Vocal Artists
• University of Utah Singers

Copyright (c) 2014 Mark D. Blackwell.

SATB sheet music from Mutopia

I have prepared a selection (twenty-nine numbers) of SATB sheet music, starting from Mutopia's search filter in the vocal category.

All have lyrics in English, Latin, or Spanish (and some French, German, and Italian) in the staff (as opposed to being separately printed).

They are not filtered for quality, nor for content type (such as religious).

They are engraved using the beautiful Lilypond, as everything is on Mutupia.

• Abendruhe—W. A. Mozart (1756–1791)
• Al mormorar de' liquidi cristalli, madrigale a 6 voci—G. Gastoldi (1556–1622)
• Alas! and did my savior bleed?—J. K. Banks (1987–)
• All my heart this night rejoices—C. E. Horsley (1822–1876)
• Ave Maria—P. Benoit (1834–1901)
• Beatus vir—C. Monteverdi (1567–1643)
• Caligaverunt—J. Naujalis (1869–1934)
• Come again—J. Dowland (1563–1626)
• Dies irae—W. A. Mozart (1756–1791)
• Dolcissima mia vita—C. Gesualdo (1566–1613)
• El grillo—J. des Prés (c.1440–1521)
• Es ist ein ros’ entsprungen (Anonymous)
• Fairest isle—H. Purcell (1658–1695)
• Glory to god in the highest—G. B. Pergolesi (1710–1736)
• Magnificat—P. Benoit (1834–1901)
• Musiche per la maddalena—C. Monteverdi (1567–1643)
• O how amiable are thy dwellings—T. Weelkes (1576–1623)
• O nata lux de lumine—T. Tallis (1510–1585)
• Popule meus—J. Naujalis (1869–1934)
• Receive the body of Christ—D. Johnson (?–)
• Sestina—C. Monteverdi (1567–1643)
• Sibylla samia—O. de Lassus (1530 or 1532–1594)
• Silver swan, the—O. Gibbons (1583–1625)
• T'amo mia vita—C. Monteverdi (1567–1643)
• Tantum ergo sacramentum—F. J. Haydn (1732–1809)
• Tantum ergo—F. Schubert (1797–1828)
• To hope—S. Magnenat (1980–)
• Trust and obey—D. B. Towner (1833–1896)
• Unquiet thoughts—J. Dowland (1563–1626)

Copyright (c) 2013 Mark D. Blackwell.

Website page layouts, proofs of concept

A big part of frontend website development is implementing webpage layouts using CSS stylesheets (of course).

Recently, I've been experiencing a great deal more of business in the area of layouts (specifically for Rails websites) and especially the work of implementing these layouts through developing CSS stylesheets—whether or not this is really programming! (Well, I think it is.)

I find it much less efficient to run the Rails server, and much more efficient to 'web-browse' the local filesystem. The work progresses much more quickly, in other words, when it is isolated from any complicating factors arising from our misunderstanding of the Rails server, jQuery, ERB/HAML, and perhaps even Sass. The weightiest reason for this improvement (by far) is the troubleshooting principle: 'divide and conquer'. Less important is that the filesystem also is relatively quicker.

It is much more doable (dare I say, even feasible) to get isolated layouts working using pure CSS and HTML (while keeping class names simple). And the same is true while paring down a stylesheet to be as simple and clean as possible.

Of course, further simplifying cross-browser development is the use of a CSS-reset stylesheet. Also it is essential, for HTML5's semantic tags: header, footer and nav (etc.), to include a (JavaScript) HTML5 shim (or 'shiv') script. So I include both of these best practices.

I have prepared a repository of my CSS (layout) proofs of concept on GitHub—including nine(!) useful proofs (as of now, September, 2012).

These layout proofs contain stylesheet code the way I write for Rails projects as much as possible (without actually including Rails).

Copyright (c) 2012 Mark D. Blackwell.

Select online wikis and discussion boards for startups

In GitHub, there's no email notification associated with wiki changes. That's not very good! They specialize in source control, instead. For more:

http://rants.arantius.com/github-sucks

Stackexchange here discusses GitHub wiki change notifications, but only by setting up another server and programming it. Certainly a startup doesn't have time for that:

http://developer.github.com/v3/repos/hooks/

The old Google groups was bad. But not even the new Google Docs has change notification, either.

So today I researched online wikis and discussion boards for startups, and found this Stackexchange answer. GitHub's wiki does not include notifications, BTW.

Zoho's products seem excellent to me! Generally, their collaboration apps are widely used and integrated with Google Docs. They seem quite good (and cheap) both for their wiki and their discussion forum:

http://www.zoho.com/collaboration-apps.html

Zoho wiki: 'Access controls' (private?). Notifications. Comment threads. Free of charge for three (3) users, $12 per month for four (4) users:

http://www.zoho.com/wiki/wiki-pricing.html
http://www.zoho.com/wiki/wiki-notifications.html
http://www.zoho.com/wiki/enterprise-level-security.html
http://www.zoho.com/wiki/google-apps.html

Zoho online forums: Private (by Google Docs integration). Notifications, but I don't know if they're universal. One forum is free of charge:

http://discussions.zoho.com/
http://www.zoho.com/discussions/features.html
http://www.zoho.com/discussions/intranet-discussions.html
http://www.zoho.com/discussions/features.html#topicadministration
http://www.zoho.com/discussions/solutions.html
https://www.google.com/enterprise/marketplace/viewListing?productListingId=2533+14374228673760475061

--------------
Other online wiki sites:

Wikidot: No integration with Google Docs. Non-public. Private for $50 per year ($4 per month equivalent). Free of charge with advertising:

http://www.wikidot.com/plans
http://www.wikidot.com/faq:private-sites

--------------
Other online forum sites:

ProBoards: $7 per month for ad-free. Oriented to public access; seems somewhat disreputable:

http://www.proboards.com/premium-forum-features

QuickTopic: $49 per year ($4 per month equivalent):

http://www.quicktopic.com/gopro?ref=faq

Teamlab: No pricing found!

Wetpaint: No access control.

Wikispaces: $20 per month for restricted access.

Wikimatrix: for comparing wiki software, said they include online but seem to be installable software. It might not be worth running one's own wiki server.

http://www.wikimatrix.org/wizard.php?d[branding]=&d[domain]=&d[flag]=2&d[language]=&d[support]=&d[wysiwyg]=yes&d[history]=yes&d[go]=1&x=77&y=14

Copyright (c) 2012 Mark D. Blackwell.

`My song is love unknown' (hymn)

Recently, I heard a moving hymn, `My song is love unknown' (1664) by Samuel Crossman (1624-1683) and w/s found this post by Rupert Christiansen (in U.K.'s The Telegraph) for a story behind it.

Actually, what moved me was its tune, Love Unknown (1918) by John Ireland (1879-1962). Set to it, some contemporary churches know better the words, `Oft when of God we ask' by English Congregational minister Thomas Toke Lynch (1818-1871, more here).

During the 254 years that passed before Ireland wrote his, I wonder which tune the Crossman hymn used? There's currently no answer in Wikipedia's article. I found a list of alternate tunes for the text, but all are of poorer quality IMO for the words compared to Ireland's; it seems no wonder he was inspired to compose it, perhaps!

Crossman as a family name would seem to suggest to a boy, BTW, thinking about religion. However, that speculation remains unconfirmed by Wikipedia's article on Crossman.

Copyright (c) 2012 Mark D. Blackwell.

Rare, select chamber music (sheet music and MP3)

Here are some rare, excellent, beautiful, intelligent and select chamber music pieces of famous and once-famous old composers, culled by listening carefully to the sound samples on Edition Silvertrust's website. They also publish The Chamber Music Journal. I audited their full catalog of sheet music in two categories: quite a number of pieces! (I developed the list for some of my acquaintances with whom I play music, and have clarified the titles, somewhat. Originally, it may have been a recommendation from Delicious.com which led me to Edition Silvertrust, but I am not sure.)

All the best, excellent pieces, and only the best ones, are on this list. This is only my educated opinion; and yet, I believe you should enjoy them if you heard them! But merely let me mention my extensive classical music background. I invite you to judge for yourself!

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String and clarinet quintets:

Joseph Eybler (1765-1846), String Quintet for Violin & 2 Violas (or 2 Violins & Viola), Cello & Bass in D Major, Op.6 No.1 (1801)

Friedrich Dotzauer (1783-1860), String Quintet for 2 Violins, Viola & 2 Cellos in d minor, Op.134 (1835)

This one is operatic:
Luigi Cherubini (1760-1842), String Quintet for 2 Violins, Viola & 2 Cellos in e minor (1837)

Johan Svendsen (1840-1911), String Quintet in C Major, Op.5 (1867)

Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924), String Quintet No.1 in F Major, Op.85 (1903)

Alexander Krein (1883-1951), Three Sketches on Hebrew Themes for Clarinet Quintet Op.12 (1914)

========================
Piano quintets:

Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921), Piano Quintet in A Major, Op.14 (1853)

Elfrida Andrée (1841-1929), Piano Quintet in e minor (1865)

Giovanni Sgambati (1841-1914), Piano Quintet No.1 in f minor, Op.4 (1866)

Friedrich Kiel (1821-1885), Piano Quintet No.1 in A Major, Op.75 (1873-4)

Hermann Goetz (1840-1876), Quintet for Violin, Viola, Cello, Bass & Piano in c minor, Op.16 (1874)

Friedrich Gernsheim (1839-1916), Piano Quintet No.1 in d minor, Op.35 (1877)

Zdenek Fibich (1850-1950), Quintet for Violin, Clarinet & Horn (or 2 Violins & Viola), Cello & Piano in D Major, Op.42 (1893)

Carl Frühling (1868-1937), Piano Quintet in f sharp minor, Op.30 (1894)

Salomon Jadassohn (1831-1902), Piano Quintet No.3 in g minor, Op.126 (1895)

Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari (1876-1948), Piano Quintet in D flat Major, Op.6 (1900)

Wilhelm Berger (1861-1911), Piano Quintet in f minor, Op.95 (1904)

Théodore Dubois (1837-1924), Quintet for Oboe (or Clarinet or Violin), Violin, Viola, Cello & Piano in F Major (1904-5)

Giuseppe Martucci (1856-1909), Piano Quintet in C Major, Op.45 (year not found)

Sergei Taneyev (1856-1915), Piano Quintet in g minor, Op.30 (1910-11)

========================
Piano sextets:

This one is not hard for piano (unlike the usual Glinka), because he intended his Italian doctor's daughter to play it:
Mikhail Glinka (1804-57), Grand Sextet for Piano, String Quartet & Bass in E flat Major (1832)

William Sterndale Bennett (1816-1875), Sextet for Cello & Bass (or 2 Cellos), 2 Violins, Viola & Piano in f# minor, Op.8 (1838)

This one has fewer notes than usual for strings:
Ludwig Thuille (1861-1907), Sextet for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Horn, Bassoon & Piano in B flat Major, Op.6 (1888)

Paul Juon (1872-1940), Divertimento (Piano Sextet) for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Horn, Bassoon & Piano, Op.51 (1913)

Copyright (c) 2009 Mark D. Blackwell.