CompositionHistory

A Tumblr Bells Christmas

A Tumblr Bells Christmas

Have you heard about the Tumblr Bells on tumblr.com? Yesterday I fooled around with this delightful browser-music-tool to create a short rendition of “Carol of the Bells”!

Tumblr Bells Carol

In the embed below, you can click to view a behind-the-scenes video that showcases a bit of how I did it, too…

Side history-nerd note: Of course the digital timbre of the Tumblr Bells is cute but limited, just as are the pitches available to work with. It reminds me of Mozart’s comment about having to create a piece for the 18th century technological wonder, the mechanical “flute clock”:

“…it is a kind of composition which I detest…as I get bored… If it were for a large instrument and the work would sound like an organ piece, then I might get some fun out of it. But, as it is, the works consist solely of little pipes, which sound too high-pitched and too childish for my taste.”

Mozart letter number 586, as found in Anderson p. 1403

Either way, it was definitely a fun holiday project, and I hope you enjoy it—maybe even try out some Tumblr Bell action yourself before they’re gone! 😀

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