Overview
Welcome to Antonomasia Productions, home of the writings of Benjamin Gayle and the music of Charles Irving Gayle. Here you will find descriptions of works, links to purchase, and commentary. Books details the books that I have written and includes sample chapters so that you can evaluate my writing at no cost and decide whether it is worth paying to read more. Music covers the music of Charles Irving Gayle (my father). Sorting through his works is a long-running work-in-progress. A selection of his music is now available to listen to for free both here and on the Antonomasia Productions YouTube channel. Contact tells you how to contact me, and please do as I value feedback.
Announcements
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29 March 2022
New book: science fiction novel Re-Entrant is released.
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17 January 2022
New book: 2021 dream journal Dreams of Twenty-One is released.
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All book titles now available in hardcover format.
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Corrected audio for Jalopy. There is no gap between tracks 5 and 6 on the master tape, so I had previously assumed that they were one piece, not two, and that the tape was missing a track.
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Minor cleanup from the navigation change. Added several scores in the 1970s section.
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Improved navigation: click to expand, click again to collapse. It doesn't work exactly like I want, but I think this is a step in the right direction. Please let me know what you think and what changes you would like to see.
Added link to purchase Dreams of Twenty at Barnes and Noble. Added content to my personal page.
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Performance of We Tango Alone by Titti Dell'Orco and Giuseppe Scarati live in Alberobello Basilica Santi Medici on 20 March 2021 [PDF] [MP3] [YT] Please read note 73 (below) for more information regarding this performance:
Notes on We Tango Alone 2021-03-20 performance: Titti Dell'Orco had contacted me [Benjamin] back in February regarding the We Tango Alone video that she found on the Antonomasia Productions YouTube channel [YT] I provided the score [PDF] . About a month later she announced the concert, and provided me with the information [PDF] The concert was live streamed on the teletrulloTV YouTube channel. Thanks to everyone who made this performance possible! Titti also has her own YouTube channel featuring her flute performances [YT].Also this week I received notice that the publisher of the music CD Spectrum will cease oprations by June, so the CD will be out-of-print and no longer available then. I might try to get it re-published, but the demand for the first edition was so low as to not be worth the effort. Let me know if you disagree.
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Scores (PDF) for Pooky deBarker, Steps, Places, and Not So Gentle Night.
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Uploaded 40 new videos to the YouTube channel, including Das Haus von Wittgenstein, Music from Roanoke Virginia, Colors, and Haunted Bedroom Furniture.
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Added 46 scores, mostly scans of manuscripts from the 1970s and 1980s. Added sound recording for Haunted Bedroom Furniture. Improved audio quality for Another Year and First Snow. Changed navigation: the Music link in the sidebar now points to the Works page (and, in case it wasn't clear, the images at the top of the music and books pages are tabs, click for more content).
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Wittgenstein Opera : Sound recordings and scores. Please read Note 70 (below) for important background information regarding this work. I was able to clean up the scores using the Finale Notepad "freeware" and print them to PDF files, and generate the sound recordings. There are things the software would not do that I was previously able to do with Finale including page formatting and instrument selection (Notepad does not have an instrument package, only synthesised basic instrument sounds, not real sampled instruments; there is no output level control, which leads to audio distortion issues), but I think the recordings are listenable and the scores readable, if not perfect (again, if anyone would like to help with this financially, please contact me).
Notes on Das Haus von Wittgenstein : I (Benjamin) found this project in the masive collection of backup discs that Charles left. I have little background information, other than that he was apparently collaborating with a fomer VCU colleague Lisa Crutchfield-Barth, though the music was derived almost entirely from his previous works. The two audio CDs that he left are unplayable. I generated new sound recordings from the scores that I found, and can only hope that the result is what he intended. The note [71] on Einsamkeit is the only commentary on the work that I have found so far. -
New (to me) computer! I had inherited Charles's computer along with everything else. It was fully loaded with music software including the crucial Finale notation software for creating scores and generating audio playback. I had used that for much of the content of this site, mostly for editing audio files, but also my early attempts at cleaning up scores. That computer suffered a catastrophic hardware failure a few years ago. All of the data was backed up, but I lost the use of the software along with the computer. Now that I have a computer capable of running the software, I don't have the money to purchase it. Audacity has sufficiently replaced Sound Forge Audio Studio for audio editing. The Finale Notepad "freeware" is capable of some basic editing and playback, but falls far short of the full version Finale software (if anyone would like to help with this financially, please contact me). The short-term plan is to continue sorting through the backups and organising the projects, then clean up scores and generate sound recordings as I find available time.
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New book: 2020 dream journal Dreams of Twenty is released.
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Added links to purchase books at Barnes and Noble.
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Added a page for short stories and whatever else I might think up.
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Sample chapter of Dreams of Nineteen. Preview of Re-Entrant.
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Improved audio quality for most of the music (MP3) files available on the Works page. I have learned more about audio processing and made an attempt to fix some of the problems in the original recordings: DC offsets, channel imbalance, and clipping. One file still has click noise from the original recording that I don't yet know how to fix: "First Snow" on Valentine. The old tape recordings from the 1970s and 1980s still have hiss and transport noise. The YouTube files have not been updated yet.
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Added audiobook chapters for The Turtle Test, The Frost Bug Dreams, and Dreams of Eighteen.
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Dreams of Eighteen audiobook chapters on YouTube. This is a first attempt at recording myself reading. Should I record more? Let me know!
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New book is released — Dreams of Eighteen.
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Links to playlists for each collection on the YouTube channel, look for the [YT] tag in the works list. More YouTube content is on the way.
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Audio for 7 Lucky Elephants from Michigan (1992).
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Antonomasia Productions now has a YouTube channel.
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An essay by Charles Gayle, The Place of the Composer in the Music Community; notes 57-63 on Another Year, notes 64-68 on Dancin' for Dollars, note 69 on Pooky deBarker.
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Scores [PDF] uploaded for String Quartet No. 3, Another Year, 7 Lucky Elephants, Dancin' for Dollars, Disambiguations, Inanimate Characters, A Thousand Dead Monarchs, Toy Box.
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Note 55 on the recording of Peaks of Otter.
Recording notes on Peaks of Otter : This track was recorded on a mono cassette tape recorder, the type that was about the size of a shoebox with a handle, set down on the stage between the two instruments. I [Ben] did what I could with what I had to work with, salvaging the audio from a cheap tape more than forty years old. A professional audio engineer would probably have done better. This is the only recording of this piece that I have. Studio performance recorded by Charles Irving Gayle. Piano: Loran Carrier; Cello: Anne Bakker.