Just a Closer Walk With Thee Spiritual arrangement © 1980 Road Island Co source: All-American Folk Vol 1 Creative Concepts Publ, Ojai, CA keywords: gospel religious christian country jazz MIDI Band-in-a-Box live sequence MIDI file type 1 w/percussion for multitimbral synth Band-in-a-Box format file also included 3-3-95 MIDI sequence by Dave Butler (phila/germantown amateur mandolin & piano player) using Band-in-Box Pro Win 6.03 ZZJAZZ.STY jazz style key sig: G play time: 6:05 long play-along version -- every other chorus omits melody live sequence on channel 4 was recorded at tempo 110, in several takes, left hand closely following published arrangement, right hand improvising, no quantizing, some overdubbing, few or no corrections: ch track voice 4 melody 02 bright piano BIAB-generated accompaniment is in a standard BIAB style, not customized, has a non-quantized "live" feel, including: ch track voice 10 percussion 01 standard drums 2 bass 33 acoustic bass 3 piano 25 nylon string guitar 7 guitar (not used) 8 horns (not used) 6 strings (not used) `Just a Closer Walk With Thee, Jesus grant my humble plea. Daily walking close to Thee, Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.' The words and arrangement upon which I based my MIDI sequence are a little different from others that I've heard. This is a traditional spiritual which became popular after Kenneth Morris published his arrangement (different from the one I followed). The second line of the chorus in this version is `Grant it Jesus if you please.' I remember hearing also `Grant it Jesus this my plea,' in David Houston's recording (maybe I misheard it). In We'll Understand It Better By and By, edited by Bernice Johnson Reagon, publ Smithsonian Institution Press 1992, is this excerpt from Ms. Reagon's 1987 interview of Kenneth Morris: `Take "Just a Closer Walk with Thee"; now there's been so much controversy about that song -- that is not my original song. It was an arrangement that I made on an old spiritual. It was a plantation song, and I heard it and liked it so well that I came and made an arrangement of it. I went to Kansas City, to a conference of some kind, and one of the choirs there sang it. I asked them where they heard it, and they asked their choir director, Mr. William R. Hurse, where they had gotten it from. He didn't know; he had heard it all of his life. I had never heard it before. I am the one who made the arrangement; the first one that was put in print was mine. I took it to the National Baptist Convention in 1944 and presented it with my group, the Martin and Morris Singers, and it simply clicked. After we left there, everybody was using it. [However], at that particular time, we weren't too careful about getting copyrights so it was stolen from me. After I made my arrangement, it became very popular.... I don't know if I should say this or not, but there was a Southern white publisher named Winsett, and he wanted to put it in his book. When he found out that the song had not been copyrighted, he was free to take out a copyright on it. He did not change the arrangement -- not too much. He put it in shape notes, that's the only thing he did....' _________________________ [following is generic ending for dbut sequence descriptions] do you have any favorite sequences or sources to share? do you ever try to improve on stuff you download? my sequences are all rough drafts i'd love to hear improved versions. I use BIAB to create a rough draft which might be refined later w/ a sequencer like Cakewalk which can handle editing like pause & slow down. usually I add extra choruses, omitting melody on every other chorus, for a 5-10 minute jam which i'll accompany on mandolin. this is a rough sequence created in an hour or two. typically w/ BIAB i first spend about 10 minutes selecting style & voices, typing the chord prog, setting part markers, looping, & ending points. in another 5 or 10 minutes I can add a simple melody & be ready to jam. sometimes I record a bass line in the 1st chorus of melody track, copy it to all choruses, then overdub. but often i'll just play a simple melody & rely completely on BIAB's accomp. BIAB will also generate harmonies if you want. i usually don't. channel 4 is the only channel set up for recording. so if you mute/solo channel 4 you can hear the generated & live parts separately. unsolicited unpaid testimonial for BIAB from dbut __________ | | dbut@voicenet.com | X X | | ______ | http://www.voicenet.com/~dbut/ | U | |__________| http://www.voicenet.com/~dbut/music.html