Two and a half months later . . .

Even though I have not posted anything in this blog since March 1st I have been busy. Mind you, I spent a full week and a half learning that ChatGPT is able to waste a lot of your time, encouraging you to continue with something that it had told you it could do. When you then discovered that it could not really do it ChatGPT would then come up with new ideas to explore. Strangely it was quite honest about having misled you when you confronted it but always had some explanation. I had this clever idea and I guess my ego got involved in wanting to prove it could be done.

I should have called it quits after a day or two.

But I can also report that I composed a new piece for strings that I called “Spring Coming 2026”. I just put it up on YouTube. If you can’t find it quickly on YouTube you can find it on this website in the Videos section.

What is really interesting about it that Tobias Braun, who does all the “sound engineering” for my compositions, implemented the use of the Chris Hein strings library into Cubase and we are now using it. Spring Coming 2026 sounds so much better than what we could do before! Tobias also applied this library to the full version of Longing (also now available via YouTube) and I like it a lot as well.

I am now planning to apply this library to earlier videos I have posted but that will take a little time.

New draft book chapter

Experimenting with Canons had been a great experience. I was planning to focus next on fugues but then had second thoughts. What this all lead to you can read in the latest draft chapter of my book. This is the link: https://www.rolfsmusic.com/book-chapters/2026/3/1/chapter-7-which-way-to-go

Just a quick update

Been busy composing and enjoying it. I am attaching a small sample below. I call it Longing. This is the short version, the longer one is still on its way to sounding the way I want it to. This one I hope will turn into a video shortly as well but in the meantime here it is to listen to:

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Visiting Canon Country

I spent the last 6 weeks or so exploring Canons. It was really fascinating for me to discover how Canons can “generate” the most interesting harmonies, depending on how you structure the repeat pattern. It was fun to try it out with one, two and three note repeat patterns.

You can read more about this experience and listen to the music I composed as a result via this link: https://www.rolfsmusic.com/book-chapters/chapter-6-canons

I also had to try my hand at writing a Crab Canon. You probably know what this is already but just in case it is a piece of music that is played by 2 instruments, one from the front and the other from the last note backwards. In this audio file I played the crab canon twice and then added a happy ending to it outside of the canon.

Play Audio

New Videos

As I already mentioned I have been learning how to use Squarespace, a website software tool. I am always amazed how these developers find it easy to make it so hard for someone like me to find out where I can find a setting in order to do something. Dorico, which I use for recording my compositions also excels at that. This type of software development started with Microsoft Word where it became so complicated because they squeezed so many features into it. That trend is still going strong but I hope that with AI new approaches will come into being. To be able to say cheerio to Dorico and Cubase, would that not be wonderful?

Sorry about that digression but I have changed the video section in my website so that I can now add new videos to it all on my own. The new videos, 4 of them at the moment but I hope that will grow, show you the score and play the music at the same time. Go to Videos and from there to Videos 2025 + to find and play these videos.

Draft Sections of a new book I am working on

I have been a busy bee learning how to use Squarespace, the software system on which my website is based. I needed some help in speeding up my learning curve, for which I am grateful. Basically I have been able to create book chapters in Squarespace where I can show text, scores, play audio files and play videos of my music that I have stored in YouTube.

I have managed to create 5 chapters this way. To read them you need to go to the main menu in my website, select the E-Book option and when that opens up scroll down to E-Book 2 and press on that button. That will open up my E-Book 2 blog where you can read the draft chapters.

Another example of 2 melodic ideas

I am trying to experiment in creating harmony from polyphony in my new work. How to utilise best different melodic ideas so they create synergy in the music fascinates me. Attached a video of an older composition where in the main theme this is happening. It is quite different from the prior video where one voice really creates a setting for the other voice to “float” on.

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Back to composing

After having spent close to 3 years on creating the mobile App, I am excited to get back to composing new music.

I have an interesting new project in mind and will write more about that soon. In the meantime I would like to show you a video for flute and cello:

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New mobile App

I had this idea about 3 years ago to create a mobile App using my compositions. It was not because I thought I could make a fortune with this idea. If you look at the App Stores you will probably find over 100 Apps that focus on meditation. I did feel that an App, which I called “Connect with your Inner Self through music and meditation” could be a good setting for my compositions, once I reworked them a bit. I also felt that in this way -hopefully- I could create a more permanent home for the many musical ideas I have had over the last 12 years.

Little did I know how much effort this all would take but I persevered and the App is now out.

In order to support this new App I also needed to redo my personal website so that I could reference the new App and also give it a new look and feel.

I hope you will like it and, of course, also enjoy my music.