jannokas

Inal, this is wonderful music! I very much enjoyed listening to it. Astonishingly well orchestrated - your technical abilities are remarkable! And you composed this a few years ago... I can imagine how you must have evolved a great deal ever since then and you're probably composing with even more clarity and depth by now. Your contributions are nothing short of inspiring and uplifting for the whole mankind! :) Love&Peace, J

Very cool work! A lot of potential in this. I like the idea of 'old in the new'. Peace, J

Hey! I don't know much about Jazz either, but enjoyed your piece! Thanks for sharing this here!

Nikolas, I love how quickly and easily you actually composed this! This is how I compose as well. I have ideas brewing in my head FOR AGES and then I sit down and suddenly it all flows out as if it were nothing. But those thoughts are the final product of years of thought processing! So don't ever estimate your music on how quickly you composed, but rather on how much energy you put into it and what it really means to you! :) I don't know how you composed this and what the music depicts or even what style it is, but I love it!!! It sounds very interesting and original. It IS very Unique! I'll have to find a good moment when I can take a closer look at the score and see what I can make of it. Will check out the NSS forums with the tutorials! Thanks for this cool music lesson! ;) Composerorganist, Yes, dance and pop music have been using the recording studio, but they haven't made their recordings an art form. Their music is functional. But 'great' art these days is the non-functional creation that cannot be used in any practical ways. They are made to be appreciated for themselves. There is a wonderfully informative article by Stephen Davies called "Aesthetic Judgements, Artworks and Functional Beauty" on this website: Downloadable papers - Faculty of Arts at The University of Auckland, New Zealand This explains what art is from a purely philosophical point of view. But again, this article is for you only if you are so inclinced. You don't have to be a philosopher and understand all of these concepts in order to be a great musician/artist! :) *Peace* --Jan

Hey Nikolas, You present a very exciting new concept here that creates an actual shift in consciousness! Really excellent idea! Steve Reich did this with 'phase-shifting', but that was within the music itself. I haven't even began to listen to your "Unique," but I just love the philosophy behind this. You've brought into our awareness the 'Audio Manipulation' as an actual (existing) entity or almost like an instrument! This is VERY good! :) Of course, WHY NOT make full use of the freedom you get in a recording studio? I know that many people have already done this, but what I'm so excited about is the INTENT you set together with this music! I'm constantly recording my piano exam pieces for YouTube and in one of the videos a friend criticized me for "being dressed inappropriately for a YouTube concert." I answered that in that video I was making full use of the FREEDOM that comes with a private setting (enjoyed being relaxed in a home atmosphere). It's NOT the same as a concert setting!!! A concert is a social event, where the music performed will not sound as perfect as it does when it's recorded! And that's fine, because the idea of a social event is the social event itself. Only snobs and outcasts go to concerts to hear perfectly performed music! LOL! So the idea that I'm pinpointing here as 'special' (and valuable for me!) is that you help to shrug off any unnecessary preconceived notions about what is art and shift the focus on what is given and make full good use of that! You communicate a great idea together with this music! These are the keywords in this century of CHOICE: -simple -fast -intuitive -social -minimal -choice -useful -fun. I detected the presence of these criteria in the philosophy behind your music here! :) Good job! Although, on the other hand, it is also true that this kind of a 'shift in focus' takes the attention away from ->the music itself<- and runs the risk of intellectualizing the process too much. But it's still a good start for a piece of music to be placed on a solid foundation like this. OK, now onto listening to the ACTUAL piece itself! LOL! *Peace* --Jan--

Hey Jazzooo, OH my goodness! I love, love, love this! The guitar theme 5:00 is just...ahhh...breath-taking! Anyways, it's very original and a whole new sound World of its own! Your experiments have had very good results. This music is making me feel very happy. And it goes perfectly with those paintings. The 'playful melancholia' is so exact. Thanks for sharing this here. Peace, J

Hey Sherief, Wonderful music! I'm new to experimenting with programs and only have an old Finale, but you've inspired me to try out Vienna Library, too! It sounds very realistic and clear. fascinating effects! Thanks for sharing this here. Peace, J

Hey Mike, I don't often get a mo to stop by this website, but when I do, I'd be very lucky to find something that isn't only enriching to listen to, but can also teach something new and exciting about music! This piece has everything a good composition has. What defines a good composition is EXTREMELY hard to say, - the answer would be of gigantic proportions like a thesis or such - but what I hear here is an organic piece of music with something to satisfy all the senses. Needless to say, it is very inspiring! It's good that you uploaded the score, too, so I can come back to it later and study it when I have enough spare time! The only specific comment I can make about the music now is that the moment all the activity halted and those messianic chords appeared I felt as though I'd ascended onto the highest plane in this Universe! That was ingenius! You know what I would introduce into the music at that point? Perhaps a distant sound of a celesta, xylophone or vibraphone? I do believe that would just dot the i! But of course, I'm not quite sure what you really intended for that section, so...it's much more personal/subjective from here on. And another strength is that it is a wonderful example of the cutting edge use of instrumental colour! It is very, VERY fine indeed. Breakthrough 21st century music! Anyways, BRAVO! :) All the best, J

Aahh...I'm hearing very beautiful chords right now! I love this! I don't have time to get into the form analysis, but I'm hearing plenty of "Unity within Variety". And you have a nice 20th-21st century style. Very inspiring sounds! Oh a very good thing is the variety of fast/slow/fast...thick texture/thin texture. Plenty of silences. I'm so in love with "Cyclothymic". It is...heaven! Thanks for sharing this with us! Peace, J

Hey, I really enjoyed the 1st movement. It has a nice fresh sound to it. Not too dissonant and not too much like anything else I've heard. Pretty good, I'd say. Although the motif development does need further consideration. More variation is desirable. More contrast...more drama!? Especially because it's the 1st movement. It's a good idea to make your music follow a certain story-telling pattern, this 1st movement does have that to an extent. ;) The 2nd movement starts very nicely. The opening chords make a very good impression - a bit like Arvo Part - but the rest of the music seems to just wander around without any sense of direction. You could try and put a bit more form in there. Not necessarily in terms of ABA, but rather more variation with rhythm and more harmonic activity, but forget about those chromatic notes - they sound like a bit of an unstylish surprise, sounds like an early Classical cliche'. Give it some kind of a purpose. The 3rd movement sounds like a meditation. Very serene throughout. This is actually where I'd say that it maintains one style and sticks to it. It has a good sense of unity of inspiration. This is what makes it good is its continuous meditative quality. I didn't detect any harsh unstylish moments in it. But like with the previous movements, it needs more power, vibrancy. But that's just what I would do with it! ;) Best of composing energies to you and plenty of fun, Jan

Hey Composerorganist, Just wanted to pat you on the back for this wonderful work you do here! And you are so gentle with the students, a very good personality trait! All the best, Janno

Hey! I think QC already mentioned everything that was necessary about the technical challenges. I think this is a wonderful creation and you have a solid structure and your theme is nicely developed. Peace, J

You have compositional power! And the explanation you had for the story of the piece goes very well...glad that soul came to terms with its destiny in the end ;)!

This wonderful piece sounds like Romantic with strong signs of Impressionism. From a purely creative point of view, it sounds well solid! You have a very good sensitivity of harmonies and it sounds true to its style. Although you said it's free form i still think it's more like theme and variations. (The other themes after the introduction sound loosely related to the first.) In this way it also has formal strength. I haven't heard any of your previous compositions, but i thoroughly enjoyed this one.

This is a seriously respectable piece. I'm not sure where to place it inside my mind in terms of music history...Not contemporary, too familiar sounding for that. But...not exactly the kind of level of musical comprehension expected from a 24-year-old. If you can write this now (meaning that you already have the stamina for large-scale works)...i can't see why you shouldn't soon find your own voice and perhaps write something very original. The amount of talent that this requires...is way above average. You said somewhere that the contemporary music doesn't express you very well. So i thought perhaps i should tell you this wisdom (from a very wise girl): key to success is not making new things...but old things in a new way. That simple sentence explained everything to me...also why the contemporary music is frowned upon :). When i begin to study orchestral music i will definitely return to see your style of orchestration as i will probably learn quite a bit from it. Good luck!!!