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This is a recitative I composed based on the poem "Still Held" by John Mark Green. Hope you enjoy! 🙂

AngelCityOutlaw, it does depend on several slants: ones basic developmental line across the years. (I started composing before daws and samples arrived. I had to make do with a piano or an organ); the genre(s) one's working in; ones experience of orchestral/ensemble playing and having to prepare ones own works for performance; Ones basic musical gifts such as being able to hear something inwardly with a reasonable chance of writing it down; finally...a sense of musical adventure and experiment. It's true that today's opportunities for hearing ones work live - played even badly - are less than they were so wannabe composers have to study scores and learn an instrument to get the hang of notation. (Same applies to the broader subject of "sound organisation which will probably be played through loudspeakers anyway.) Musical education has become an industry so composition studies lead students down avenues (curricula) that may be wasting their time and, dare I say, killing spontaneity and aural imagination. (My nearest college in Brighton doesn't bother to teach people how to listen to scores, read them and be able to create the sounds in ones head. Sure, they're taught technical analysis but that isn't the same thing.) I use a piano to check if my thoughts are in line with what I've drafted. It's no use for checking sustained passages obviously (not for the sort of stuff I write) but the piano's percussive attack does force attention to "harmony". I've long since got past "thinking piano" while using it to check what will end up orchestral. But I'm not a great pianist. I studied a few difficult bits to develop dexterity in the interest of composing. I'm no judge of my own work but my feelings are that I compose better for instruments than piano. I talk to musicians a lot, which I'm sure bores many but with a couple of beers in the offing they're often ready to help. I still believe that the secret behind competent scoring is intelligent listening and score study. Analysis is needed to find out how a composer of a particular sound did it! Analysing construction however is for those determined to do what others have already done. But I suppose it's ultimately up to many things in ones musical upbringing that develop the mind in a particular direction.

Thank you, Peter! Sorry it took nearly 2 months to reply... it's been a crazy summer. I like your suggestion to post both versions in order to compare them, so I'll edit the original post to include the original choral version as well! I appreciate your thought about doing one for choir and instrumental ensemble! The main reason I'm not (in addition to being tired of this piece) is that (1) I'd have to do lots more orchestrating and messing around to get it to work (for instance, the band version is a whole tone lower than the choir version to better suit the ranges of the instruments, and I'd have to figure out a way to reorchestrate so they both work in the same key) and (2) it's unlikely anyone would ever perform it. Thanks again for your kind words!

I was nowhere near writing at that level when I was starting high school. Hats off to you, and kudos for taking criticism gracefully.

Bravo

Thank you for taking the time to comment on this. I used to work in this way more frequently -- taking a melody and using it as a compositional basis. For instance, I composed an orchestral piece a traditional Polish melody (link); used a medley of melodies (this is one of Chopin's) whilst improvising at the piano (link); used ancient Greek melodies (link); and I use my own pieces as a basis all the time (link) etc. Each was with different methodologies with a variance of flexibility. The Polish melody one for instance was originally much simpler (spontaneous), but the orchestration grew more ordered and complex as it was revised, controlling its usage to a planned structure; the improvised set was completely spontaneous; and the last one was planned merely to utilize the melody. In any of the examples though, I felt it was more important my manipulation of the material as opposed to being accurate to the original -- capturing the spirit through recomposition and by taking ownership and controlling the material in as personal a way as possible. It is definitely a fun way to compose, especially the more thorough and inquisitive the approach. Having some form of order to control when and how material is introduced is certainly helpful. I learned this when composing a work for brass quintet, when one work of mine used 16 quotations of various people and the form was hard to bind together in a convincing enough manner, in my opinion. I doubt I would return to this piece (it was back when I was still using a "opus" based catalogue, and it was written when I was a different person). But, it was a fundamental style of composition that helped push me into other areas. This piece was composed in one sitting and without much thought aside from what was spontaneous, which is a consequence of my improvising background. Just writing in that manner has its benefits, but is by no means free from drawbacks. Thanks again for commenting, and I am contending posting more music at one point though I am trying not to overdo it to be honest. I, like many, write a considerable amount of music, often times for no reason at all, which is not particularly wise when you are someone that is, like me, prone to mental health issues. But it would be nice to have for you more relevant examples of my writing, if only to share them with someone other than myself.

I sounds sweet and correct.

This is pretty important to me too: deciding what to prune and what should be replaced; prune density-wise and content-wise, creating alternative trial versions. If at this point I haven't scrapped the piece I'll leave it for at least a month so I can bring fresh ears to criticise it, make final changes - or possibly then scrap it. I sometimes create and print off a short score (orchestral sections each on 2 staves) before scrapping it in case something is usable later on.

A work of character and quality. It seems to have a little bridge between part B and the recapitulation of part A, right? Some interesting details. Congratulations Jared, bravo for the great work!

It sounds amazing, and realistic enough to my ears. As for your question I normally use musescore and don't make use of any DAW out there so I'm afraid I cannot be of help. But seriously, you made it sound very realistic and professional, my kudos.

The tubular bells in the beginning and throughout the piece remind me of the Final Fantasy VI introductory cutscene music. I think I remember listening to your original choir piece too - it might be good to link to that piece here for ppl to compare. Have you considered making a version for band/orchestra and choir? It would be awesome to hear although I suspect you're probably tired of working on this piece by now. It's very mysterious and foreboding. Thanks for sharing!

I can tell you are a talented improviser. I liked that each section had it’s own motif, like the first section with it’s mordent motif. I loved the dramatic transition into the tumultuous second section, and the last section sounded like the same mood as the first, but you probably forgot its motif at this point. I think it would be worth it to make a score. Good work.

Wow, I love it. Really impressing and nice effort with mixing that 😉