music for qi gong 18 forms

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https://soundcloud.com/greghooper/sketch-for-shi-ba-si

I have been working on this piece for my Tai Chi teacher - it is to accompany a set of 18 Qi Gong movements called Shi Ba Si. This is not really finished as far as the mix goes - and if my teacher does not like it (for a video of the exercises) then I will rework it into more of a listening rather than a movement oriented piece. Still, I have enjoyed composing this as I almost never work with strings and harmonies like this so for me this was quite exploratory. I quite enjoy applied composition where the function (including the audience) has to be taken in to account. Fit for purpose is the major consideration

I think for me these sorts of projects are about trying to find a way of making something I want to make within the constraints of the audience / purpose for the piece. So the piece is definitely "authentically mine" But, in this case the audience is my TaiChi class. That meant I did not explore a lot of harmonic movement that I came across as I worked on the piece because the harmonies would be quite novel for the class / Qi Gong listener and draw their attention to the music too much. That accounts for the repetition as well - I'm happy with some repetition but this piece has a bit much for me.

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here is someone doing the 18 forms exercise https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymO7ybqMQkU

the music sounds to me like it is being broadcast from an icecream van PA, I have not heard a better recorded version

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Hi Woggle,

I am doing a bit of Tai-Chi for myself (traditionell Cheng-Style) and have thought sometimes about making myself a little bit of backgroundmusic for my practice but I really would not know how and where to start. I think no problems with daw/sounds cause I am (just as a hobby in spare time between job, family and - of course - :D tai chi) already into that slow, ambient, soundscape-orientated kind of stuf but do you can give me any advice on scales, chorprogressions etc. (could PM if you prefer) ? Would be really thankful for any advice.

Kind regards,

Richard

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Hi tatanka - I am no expert at all but I think start with the pace of the movements - so this piece I did is at 96bpm (or 48 I suppose) but also you must think in terms of the flow of the movements and write music that captures both flow and pace. I developed this piece from a scale that went C C# F F# A# and basically played around with chords using that. Everything was done from intuition really and none of it was actually played, it was all done with manual midi editing..

Another thing I did was put the bell / metal percussion in as a timekeeper - which is important for these exercises . Certainly I tend to count when I do this as I am still a beginner and need to have some sort of mental metronome going to make sure my breathing syncs with the movements in a consistent way

I am doing Sun style and I think we might do some Yang style later this year - I have only been doing Tai Chi for maybe 18 months max. I love it, it is so sophisticated and such a pleasure to do

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Hi woggle,

thanks for the info, yes it is really a great thing :D . I have the great cast of fortune that my actual master has enough of the big cities (used to teach in Berlin before) and travelling all around the world (teaching in about 40 countries so far....) and now stays in our small town cause he just likes it. Evry training hour brings some new inspiration, really great.

So I will try with your info as starting point and see.

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I like your screen name.
I listened to the whole thing. :) Very relaxing. Oddly it reminded me of some of the music from the movie Holy Mountain. I think it's the droning strings. I enjoyed it.

Thanks for sharing.

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justin3am wrote:I like your screen name.
I listened to the whole thing. :) Very relaxing. Oddly it reminded me of some of the music from the movie Holy Mountain. I think it's the droning strings. I enjoyed it.

Thanks for sharing.
very kind Justin - particularly to listen to the whole thing!


thanks, woggle

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i have remixed this into a much nicer version

https://soundcloud.com/greghooper/sketch-for-shi-ba-si

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I know nothing about Tai Chi, but I imagine the rhythmic underpinning on here must be essential to keep the exercises moving along at the desired pace. It certainly works as part of a pure listening experience. I like what you did with the strings too. A very pleasant 20 minutes listening before departing for bed.

Good work :)

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Tatanka Yotanka.

AKA: sitting bull.

Sorry I'm Kickapoo Indian. I like indian names.

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seismic1 wrote:I know nothing about Tai Chi, but I imagine the rhythmic underpinning on here must be essential to keep the exercises moving along at the desired pace. It certainly works as part of a pure listening experience. I like what you did with the strings too. A very pleasant 20 minutes listening before departing for bed.

Good work :)
thanks, yes the pacing is based on standard musical accompaniment - there are planned sections of defined lengths.

I have already revisited this for another slightly different mix. Next big change though is to put in the vocals that tell you when to breathe in and out, that's also very structured.

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