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Hi! It's a joy always for me to score-read and listen pieces with grand scope. After the first listening indeed I found that the dramatic arc in the first movement seems a bit incomplete. The ending came as a sort of surprise to me, I felt that there had been no real climax. of course leaving one part of a multi-movement piece open formally as a "question" is a perfectly valid approach and I can't comment on if I think it works here after only my first listen. I have to say though, I really love the sound-textures in the beginning of the second movement. I feel as if you could have developed the timbral world there even more. Or at least thats what I would have liked to hear. The interplay between pizz. cello and harp in the very start there is something I lament that there is only one bar of. But your thinking is more in terms of melodic development than timbral one, it seems. Definitely an inspiring introduction for me though, I might try to develop something similar myself. At bar 43, 2nd mov, I definitely hear Stravinsky. The attaca from 2nd to 3rd also works really well. Combining the basses of the second movement with the motion in the woodwinds from the first is a cool touch. And then in bar 100 or so at the third movement I am now reminded of Scelsci and his pieces for orchestra that use a single tone. This seems like a very different world from the rest of the symphony. A very banal though as a final first impression of the symphony is that though it's culminations seem to hint at music that is very rhythmically active and high tension and complexity, then most of the time it was slow and reserved instead. Or maybe I have been listening to too much of Printempts recently.

This is kind of a piece I had written before knowing much about theory, but knew enough about composition and form to formulate a coherent piece. It didn't help me get into Oberlin so I'd love to hear why from you!

should add an R and D to your structure then you would get ABRACADABRA

It's a catchy little melody, sounds well orchestrated enough. I think it can be developed a little more, perhaps a B section, and then a grander variation of the theme again. Also I'm gonna move this to the incidental/soundtrack thread.

Sure! Hope everyone's entries are going well! I'll probably make another thread sometime near the end of July/beginning of August where people can start submitting their works.

I LOVE IT I think is coherent, with changes, variation and modulation. The harmony by fourths is effective, and beautiful sounding. And the title is great!

Hi My studies about Forms led me to a variety of dances: waltz, mazurka, polonaise ... (and a lot of variants). I have also been studying the base of Bartok's Axial Harmony System. I won't comment anything about it, it's too long. Anyeay this piece is a song with trio combining traditional tonal harmony with Bartok's dodecaphonic tonal (and functional) harmony.

... that you've done on stage or has happened to you on stage? Here is something I did many years ago that still haunts me. I was in my college orchestra as a percussionist. As you know, percussionists are expected to play a variety of percussion instruments. Actually, all of them. People think it's easy, that we just sit around until we're needed. Then we get up and whack something with a mallet. But you try counting rests for seventy-five bars with a conductor that's all over the place. It's not easy. One evening - a very special evening - we played Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov. The violinist was superb. Everyone was dressed to kill. In this piece, at the peak of tension, there is a wicked duet between the trumpets and a snare drum that consists of a fast, relentless sextuplet figure that goes on bar after bar ... The trumpet double tongues it (good luck!) and the snare drum marks the rhythm. It's a very difficult thing to pull off, keeping both instruments together for the duration. So what happened? Did we screw up? Embarrass the school with sloppy playing? No, my friends. We played it flawlessly. But what I can never forgive myself for doing is this. I played these marvelous sextuplets in a three piece brown suit. Courduroy, nonetheless. Everyone else looked dignified in black while I stuck out like a pretentious used car salesman. Oh, the shame. The humiliation! I remember going shopping with my mother to pick out the suit. Did I actually say, "I'll take this one, it's only $60?" Oh, the shame. Please share your embarrassment - if you dare.

I'm sure nobody can beat this one... Feeling dizzy and having your stomach upset during a performance of the children choir you were part of... turning pale, vision blurred, stepping forward halfway into a song to tell the conductress you were sick... and all of a sudden, without any warning, vomiting over her right in front of the audience's eyes, before fainting. It happened to me. As soon as I reopened my eyes and came back to my senses, I knew my days in the choir were over. And so was my career - at 8 years old.

Nope, I was right the first time. :)