pateceramics

Video with updated score and audio from Oxford's wonderful Korrigan Consort.

I don't have the ones that pronounce syllables either. 🙂. You have some really nice harmonies here. I might suggest either a general marking at the beginning of the piece of a tempo rubato or ad libitum, or some rit. and a tempo markings to help the phrases flow musically. (Good musicians will probably do it, even if you don't mark it, but marking it officially gives them permission). This is great! How long have you been composing?

Hi StripedGazelle, Welcome to the community. You will probably find that you get more engagement with things you post if you include both the pdf and a sound file so people can listen and read along simultaneously without having to get to a piano, or be a particularly good pianist. You can add one here by using the edit function. Most composing software makes it pretty easy to generate one, even if midi voices aren't as nice as a live performance. At a glance, this looks like a great start. Ranges are good and your score is pretty tidy. You have some melismas to make things interesting, but they aren't so long that breathing becomes problematic. (Depending on tempo). Did you have any thoughts about tempo or dynamics?

This topic would make a fascinating thesis for someone. Make a list of under appreciated works, make the case for why they are great, and try to determine why each didn't make as big a splash as other pieces by the same composer... Requires an instrument that's a little harder to find? Premiered at the same time as some other really great pieces, so it got a little lost in the crowd? Composer was going through a difficult patch popularity-wise at the time it premiered because of local politics, a snit with someone influential in their local music community, some known bad behavior? Local tastemakers were promoting a particular type of sound at that moment in musical history, and this was not that? Composer too busy with personal or family obligations to give it a good premiere and it just sat in a drawer for a long time, while their other works gained popularity and became the big pieces in their canon? What are the conditions that make something really gain momentum, and why weren't they met in this case?

This is some really lovely Romantic harmonic language. The sophisticated shifts in mood feel very French, and the consistent left hand helps keep a structure with for the rhythms of the right to bounce off of. I would love to hear how a variety of good pianists would interpret this piece in a competition setting. It would be fascinating to see what emerges with individual interpretation. 🙂 Is there something particular you've been reading that you would recommend? Bravo!

I really like your Agitato, and the slow burn starting material before it. I wonder if some quarter note rhythms in one of the instruments that isn't playing at that point would add structure to help the musicians stay in time well in an actual performance without taking away from the character at that point, since there is so much going on? I thought the sneaking cello pizz. line at 7:00 worked well, and wished it had continued longer. 9:00 reminded me a bit of The Lark Ascending, with cello taking the place of violin. 🙂 Bar 199! So nice! A great contrast from what happens before. If it were mine, I might extend that sound a little longer. This is really great! Thoughtfully put together and expressing a lot of musical ideas, but without feeling too disjointed. Thank you for sharing!

Thank you so much for taking the time to listen! Yes, I did write the text. It's often easier to write what you want than to find a text that discusses a particular topic and that is in the public domain. It often feels like the world is ending lately, between climate change and unstable political situations and Covid, but having someone there with you, even if there is nothing they can actually do to fix anything, makes life a little easier. Over all, I was looking for stillness and simplicity with this piece. I know what you mean that a little chromaticism would have added something, but I didn't want too much lushness, if that makes sense? More, a sense of the plain and the quiet. At the end of the world, things are pretty stark. We're down to the essentials and just quietly sitting. Thank you for sharing your thoughts! I appreciate it!

Yes! Such a good point! It's really easy to get bogged down trying to write something great, and you aren't going to. You don't know enough yet. And the only way to learn what you need to know is to write. So let go of all your expectations and just play. Do try to polish things a bit as you go, incorporating things you are learning in class, but don't get so twisted up about it that you can't put a thought down on paper. The more you write the better you will get. What we think are the major composers' first works almost certainly weren't. Those are the first ones that were good enough to be shared with anyone other than immediate friends and family, and the ones that were good enough that people held on to copies. I can guarantee, they all wrote lots of bad stuff before they started writing good stuff. So go ahead and get your bad writing out of the way as soon as possible so you can learn from it and start getting better. You don't have a finite set of ideas in you, I promise! There is an expression in the game of Go (it's a bit like chess), "lose your first 100 games quickly." You are going to lose. You don't know enough to win. So don't overthink each move, just play a lot, and you'll start getting better.

Hi Eva, Some things that I find helpful... Get your phone out and use it to make an audio recording so you don't have to write down what you come up with at the same time that you are generating musical ideas. Get some ideas to play with first, and then if you can't remember that good harmonic idea you had, you can listen back to your recording. Find a classical piece you have never listened to before, or at least don't know very well. Listen to just the first few bars, while humming along, then turn off the music, but continue humming. You'll have a feeling for how you want it to go next, and then next after that... Inevitably this won't be the same way the original composer developed things. Use that as starting material for one instrument of your quartet, then go back and start expanding the line, adding harmonies for the other instruments, and when you are far enough away mentally from the original piece you listened to that you are sure you aren't accidentally going to copy the composer's ideas note for note, write a fresh beginning. Find a piece of classical music you don't know well and listen while humming with the volume turned WAY down so you can't quite hear what is going on. Even turned down to the point that it becomes almost white noise, you'll still feel a sense of structure coming through your headphones, and your brain will try to fill in all the gaps of what it can't hear. Hum away for a minute or so, then go back and listen to what you hum-recorded and use that as your starting material, expanding on that line and harmonizing it. Go for a walk somewhere with few people and hum or whistle to yourself. There is something about being in motion and the rhythm of footfalls that can just wring music out of you. If you think well at the piano, you can always noodle at the piano, but it sounds like you already do that and are getting stuck, so maybe try getting away from the keyboard? Good luck!

Thanks, Henry! The Washington Heights Community Choir just sang this on Broadway 😲 and then again in Brooklyn, so I felt like, in case those performances generate any extra interest, it would be good to have some fresh demos for people to take a look at. Even if that means they need to hear me singing autotuned bass. Glad you enjoyed it!

I wrote this piece ten years ago, but just went through and made an mp3 with myself singing all the parts. (Pardon my bass line, and thank you autotune for allowing me to fake a bass part). In the last days, When the land is rolled up, And the seas are poured out, And every thing is put away, Come and sit with me, my old friend, And we'll watch are the stars are turned out, One by one.

I have no fault with the music, but the white on black YouTube score is pretty hard to read. It might be worth adding a more standard pdf of the music here so people can give you more specific feedback. 🙂. Nice job!

Thanks, so much, Thatguy! It's me. I like to sing through things when they are in my range so folks get a better sense of how the lyrics sit in the music at a first listen. Yes, there was apparently a constant stream of abuse and paternalism while they were on tour. At the same time, they were doing sold out concerts in major venues and performing for the British royal family, so the whole experience was... a lot. There is a good historical record of the whole thing from letters that survived. Katie Manye isn't a well-known historical figure. She was a member of a large musical group, not a solo act, and then she went home and did boots on the ground work that does much good, but doesn't earn headlines. What she said really resonated with me too. The nice thing about this one is it's really just a round of "I don't sing," and "All shall be well," with a verse layered on top for interest, so it sounds a bit complicated but you could teach it to someone who doesn't read music, as a campfire song for instance. I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for taking the time to listen.

For four equal voices, a cappella, this will work equally well for men's or women's voices, or could be used for a mixed choir. Three voices are in canon for all but the end of the piece, while the last provides a verse in an additional musical layer. It marches along at a good tempo for protest. The text explores three different approaches to working toward justice: boycotting the economy of those in power in favor of hands-on work in your community, peaceful self-sacrifice to earn respect and spread your message, and educating people about uncomfortable truths, so that they can base their future actions on an accurate picture of the situation. In 1891, the African Jubilee Chorus embarked on an extended concert tour of England to raise funds to start a college in Kimberley, South Africa. They sang to sold-out crowds, but were also met with constant racism. Choir member Katie Manye declined to participate in future tours, deciding hands-on work for her community was a better use of her time. She dedicated the rest of her life to a career in nursing. Speaking about her decision, she said, "I don't sing for people who do not see me." An anchoress nun, Julian of Norwich was chosen to be walled into a tiny cell of a church until her death as a living sacrifice. At a time when women in positions of power were actively suppressed, particularly by the church, Julian’s cheerful and calm acceptance of her fate earned the respect of her local community and gave her a voice that the authorities couldn't silence due to her ever-growing celebrity and popularity. Although she could not leave, a stream of important visitors came to her to seek her council, and her writings escaped and were published. Dating from the late 1300s, her books are the oldest known works by a female author in the English language and speak of comfort and hope in the face of adversity. One of her most famous quotes was the simple statement, "All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well." A prolific author, scientist, and activist, W. E. B. Du Bois believed speaking truth to power, especially when the truth was uncomfortable, was essential to achieving change. He felt that if we believe in a just society, we must speak up when society falls short, and teach both the good and the bad chapters of our history to have a clear picture from which to move forward. In addition to being one of the most important early voices for civil rights in America, Du Bois helped citizens in Africa and Asia organize for their rights against colonialist powers. The verse of this piece comes from his 'Black Reconstruction in America,' "Nations reel and stagger on their way; they make hideous mistakes; they commit frightful wrongs; they do great and beautiful things. And shall we not best guide humanity by telling the truth about all this…?"

Ooh! Congratulations on your premiere! Best of luck for a good concert!