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Unfortunately not, although Amsterdam is one of my favorite cities in the world!
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Very good question!
Parallel fourths, fifths and octaves are only to be avoided in counterpoint. If chords are moving around in blocks, you're inevitably going to have parallel 4ths, 5ths, and 8ves... and that's not really an issue. However, when you're writing counterpoint, the goal is to always give a sense of independent motion to all the voices, and so you have to always avoid parallel 4ths/5ths/8ves, as well as obey all the other rules that make for good counterpoint--contrary motion, allowing voices to take turns moving, etc.
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Writing for sampled orchestra is generally as simple as buying some software! To write for live orchestra, however, it helps to study orchestration, usually in university. Conducting also helps... there's no better training for writing for orchestra than just to be around orchestras a lot!
When composing, do you typically begin with a melody or a chord progression first?
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They both sort of happen at the same time to be honest! A melody without some sort of harmonic context doesn't really make sense. One thing I don't ever do is just come up with harmonies and then write melodies around them, though. That leads to really generic music.
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They usually happen simultaneously. I think writing a chord progession in isolation is a little silly, personally.
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Wow! Very specific question!
Truth is, I have no idea what that marimba part is. When I first delivered Baba Yetu to Firaxis in 2005, I gave them each instrument on a separate stem, with a bunch of live recorded percussion that's similar to what you hear on Calling All Dawns. When the game came out, I discovered that their audio leads had taken away my live recorded drums, and added that synth marimba part. So that was a bit of a surprise for me. But the short answer is, I don''t actually have that synth marimba part, and don't really know what it is. Years later when I did the Calling All Dawns version I added an mbira part under the second chorus, and that's reflected in the study score. Thanks for being a fan!
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Travel, having a family, meeting new people and having new adventures... and just keeping a happy, healthy attitude in life!