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Showing content with the highest reputation on 07/04/2017 in all areas

  1. Just saying it's a very nice piece, I like it.
    1 point
  2. Really great work! Good use of manipulating the motive in different contexts and overall flow. Couple small things I see: Couple places with awkward crossed voices. It's especially awkward with the trumpets since it's the same timbre; places like 8, 12, 52, 56, etc. Make sure your instruments are actually transposed; it says at the beginning of your score trumpet in Bb and Horn in F, but you have a concert score. That horn part is really tough; lots of quick maneuvering in some high registers. Definitely not impossible, but strangely more difficult than the rest of the parts. I don't know if you care about traditional theory, but m. 100 doesn't have a third in it; just pointing that out. m. 107 - do you want trumpet 2 to end a quarter note earlier? Just making sure. There's some stuff that would be hard to get through without breathing. It's not normally a problem but with sustained chords you should expect slight deviations in the steady stream. I felt the held trombone note at 15 distracting and not very useful. Maybe better to have it in contenance angloise with the tuba than a pedal tone. Again, good job!
    1 point
  3. Overall, not a bad job. Lots of really good moments and generally okay chord structure (i.e. no crossed voices). There are a couple thing to mention: 1. What are the x's on top of the notes in the beginning for? Artificial harmonics? Those should be diamonds, rather than x's. 2. It should probably be longer... I heard a lot of good rises and falls, but no so much "development" in the traditional sense. 3. Non-harmonic tone issues; there are a lot of times where you have a note that moves a semitone away, which is fine, but you typically have another note in the quartet that's holding the same note as that instrument, therefore creating dissonance that doesn't resolve. 4. A couple notation issues, like m. 27; just make sure that when you put notes down, it's always in terms of the beat scheme of the bar. Like that measure should be: 8th, Dotted 1/4 tied to quarter, 8th, 8th. 5. m. 33 sounds like a direct modulation and I think you may have wanted a common chord one. Look out for common tones in the previous chord before modulation just to make sure it's what you want. Builds well and definitely flows, but it feels like a heartrate machine where there are little blips in the line. Good luck and welcome!
    1 point
  4. Splendid! I have no critique on the music itself. Your rhythms are very nice and interesting! Harmony is nice too. As a saxophonist, I love that you have considered to write for saxophone quartet. Sometimes the music of the Prelude reminds me of some Mario Kart songs. The melodies are simple, but still blend well with the complex rhythms. Make sure that the baritone saxophone for which you write has a low A key. Some have it and some don't. Check it! You prove in this Prelude that you master the saxophone writing skill. The tongue slaps will add an extra dimension when the music is performed by real musicians. The Fugue reminds me of Bach, I don't know which piece, but it's also in 9/8. I think it's one of the 15 inventions in G (major or minor). This movement is my favourite, because all voices are independent, yet they form a very dense atmosphere. The saxophone has an octave key, which makes it possible to play an octave higher without having to press many other fingerings for playing the same note, but then an octave higher: If you want to play a low G (written) and then a high G, you will first have the fingering of the low G and when playing the high G you only have to add the octave key. When playing legato and ascending from a G to a high G the transition is very smooth, but when playing legato and descending from high G to low G there can be a 'sob.' Especially the transitions from middle D, E and F (with octave key) to any other note without the octave key can be hard to not let it sob. The problem is that your main theme contains many of these intervals: m. 84 D* - G; m.85 E* - F#; etc. Saxophonist can train to prevent this sob effect, but it depends on the level of the players. You shouldn't worry that much about this problem, because it occurs in almost every piece. However, I think it's useful for you to know this information. The third movement is very nice. It stimilates me to dance! M.179. Tenor. The D - Eb trill is very awkward and almost impossible, you have to change that. Mm. 211 - 214 + mm. 247 - 249. Baritone. Don't 8va in any saxophone part. We hate to read it, because we can't, honestly. All notes should be written normal, i.e. without octave clefs or 8va lines, except when writing in the altissimo register. However, even then the notes are mostly written without any 'reading supports.' By the way, I would delete all the saxophone names, except the names on the first line of each movement. There are namely no other instruments than these four saxophones, so you don't have to indicate these at every line in the score. Can you tell me why you change the key signatures in the music? I tend to make more accidental mistakes when the music is full of key changes than when there is no key signature (or one) and all accidentals are written in front of the notes. Why don't you stop with one key signature? Overall I love it! Note that the feedback I give to you are mostly details and finishing touches. This is because I see that you already know basics about the saxophone family. The music is wonderful and I look forward to hear the recording of the music performed by actual players. Kind regards, Maarten *Thank you for tagging me! @Monarcheon
    1 point
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