Tag Archives: Fencepost

Fencepost vs. Fencepost

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vs.

One is a refreshing pale ale from Back Forty Beer Co. with a modest alcohol content and an American hop profile: a touch of pine. The other is a wintry meditation on mortality from Post & Beam with an intoxicating Pythagorean minor third: slightly lower than equal tempered. Both are Alabama natives wistfully recalling a vanishing rural past.

This fall when I plow the fields under I’ll be thinking only of you.

 

Fencepost

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This month’s score from Post & Beam is Fencepost. This is the last song I wrote for the record and has become the sleeper hit of the release.

Download the score as a pdf file: fencepost.pdf
Download the score as a Lilypond .ly file: fencepost.ly

Notes on Fencepost

  • The cFCFAb tuning is one I came to after trying a more standard minor (fCFAbC) or sawmill (cFCFG) tuning. I use a Pythagorean temperament based on F which doesn’t change the tuning of the C’s and F’s very much, but makes the Ab significantly flatter than an equal-tempered Ab.
  • The whooshing, windy sound throughout (heard prominently during the intro) is generated by walking on a pair of foot pedals, almost the way you would pump an old pump organ. (You can see this motion in the video.)
  • While recording, I kept missing the foot pedals and accidentally stepping on a mic stand instead. I decided to embrace the resulting bass drum thumps and include them in the piece.
  • Yet another song with bird imagery (YASWBI).

Post & Beam CD Release Show Recordings

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Here are the live recordings from my recent Post & Beam CD release show with Matthew Carefully and Century Plants.

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Matthew Carefully: Should I Sing a Song?

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Matthew Carefully: Prayers and Palms

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Century Plants: 1 and 2

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Holland Hopson: East Virginia

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Holland Hopson: My Own True Love

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Holland Hopson: Born in the Desert

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Holland Hopson: Bowling Green Green

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Century Plants and Holland Hopson: Improvisation

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Matthew Carefully and Holland Hopson: Blackjack David

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Holland Hopson: Fencepost