Alex Weidmann

Hi to all! I've recently been asked to write a theme for an unofficial Star Trek podcast. Obviously I'm not allowed to quote any of the original themes, but the brief was: James Horner! Its supposed to evoke "Star Trek", without actually quoting any copyright material. So this is what I came up with. Think my percussion needs a bit of finessing (especially at the end), and I still have some work to do on the balance of the mix, and the mastering. (Sorry about the score: it's designed for midi rendition only, as I don't expect this will ever be played by real life musicians!)

Hi Raphael, Nice work on your composition! Like the way it alternates between shades of light and dark. The score does have a few issues. Some of your slurs are too long. Remember these represent bow-strokes; not phrasing. You should indicate whether parts are div. or non-div. so they know when to play double-stops. Sometimes your note stalks are pointed in the wrong direction, and you often have unnecessary subdivision of notes into tied pairs. Also some of the enharmonic spelling looks wrong/inconsistent to me. Think most of your G flats should be F sharps. Thanks for posting, Alex

I enjoyed this piece. Has some nice changes of pace, and good use of percussive effects. (Especially liked the seed shaker.) The melodic lines sounded quite Oriental at times, due to the pentatonicism. The cello tremolo between two natural harmonics seems like it would be very difficult to achieve. I'm not a cellist, but wonder whether this is actually playable? In Bar 3 and Bar 20, it looks like you're doing two different types of pitch bending simultaneously on the cello. Wondered how this is supposed to work? Don't think I've ever seen those two symbols together before. Thanks for posting, Alex

That was my original thought. Was planning to conclude the work with a more epic version of the opening theme; but it ended up going in a different direction entirely! Many thanks for listening, Alex

Have listened to the whole work now. The 2nd movement makes great use of percussion, with splashes of colour from different parts of the orchestra. Loved the sorrowful melody on the oboe where it first appears in the 3rd movement. The build up of intensity after Bar 66 is really interesting, then it coalesces into an unexpectedly happy resolution. N.B. I'm told the triangular fermata is not generally used in professional scores. Better to use a regular fermata, with short written above. Also when you have a fermata, it should be indicated across every part in the score, including those not playing. Nice use of fp effects in the strings during the 4th movement. Liked the offbeat staccato notes in the celli. Great change of texture where you have the solitary flutes. At bar 78, the 1/2 time signature looks rather odd. May be better to use 2/4 instead, so the conductor keeps beating at the same rate. Bar 22 should have a full bar rest in the timpani. Bar 145 has some double minim rests, where they really should be full bar rests. Nice rhythmic variation in the 5th movement, combined with unexpected harmonic progressions. I like how you've given everyone something interesting to play here. The mournful ending is evocative and delicate. Overall fluent use of orchestral textures and colours, with effective build up and release of tension. You seem to have mastered all the tricks on how to make MuseScore sound realistic. Are you using the standard MuseSounds libraries? Do you expect a real orchestra to play this at some stage?

Thanks Luis! It really helps having good instrument libraries, as I can hear how it might sound with real musicians. Have to sort out my score next, and decide how to organise the divisi in the strings. There are some places where I've forgotten to notate new starting dynamics, and have instruments coming in at ppp against ff in the brass! Then I just need to find a symphony orchestra crazy enough to play it! 🤪

Hi Mark. Your polyrhythms between doublets and triplets seem to form the core of this piece. You also alternate from triplets to doublets, which works rather well. I could picture the hair-raising carousel whirling around manically! Thanks for posting, Alex

I've only listened to the first movement so far. Enjoyed it very much. It must've taken a lot of effort to compose! Love the evocative opening theme, and the alternating time signatures work well. I like the way you sometimes use a canon rippling through the orchestra to create interesting and complex textures. Nice change of mood at M. It's good you've given the bassoonists a lot of material to work with. (I've tried to do that in some of my pieces, as I think it's an underused instrument.) Will have to check out the rest when I have time. Thanks for posting, Alex

Hi all. Have posted this before in the incomplete section; but I've now finished the composition. Excited to hear what y'all think about it! I named the piece after the closest G-class star with Earth-like planets, and imagined what a future manned mission to this star might reveal. Still have a load of work to do on the score; but the composing is basically done. I wanted to make good use of Spitfire Chamber Orchestra, Berlin Brass and Berlin Percussion within MuseScore, as I recently bought these libraries when on sale. I'm very pleased with the results, as they sound quite realistic to me. Almost didn't buy Berlin Percussion; but glad I did now, as the free Muse Percussion doesn't have bowed crotales. Think these are quite effective within the piece. Wonder if the very downbeat ending works with the upbeat opening? Was trying to make the harmonies go to unexpected places, whilst remaining true to the opening theme, and developing it into new areas. Not sure how successful I've been in making the work sound unified and coherent? Also wonder which composers this reminds you of? Looking forward to your comments! Alex

Here's what I came up with. I've no idea where it will go next! Maybe a return to the opening theme; or perhaps just more development?

Hi everyone. Have modified the third movement of this piece quite a lot now, mainly so it goes through a bunch of different keys. Have also simplified the score, so it's much easier to read. New version attached below. Not sure if I've gone over the top now with my key modulations?

I took your advice, and made a more realistic rendition. Think the dynamics are working better now? I used higher quality sample libraries, and made slight tweaks to the score. (This is a performance score, hence the strange note lengths and dynamic extremes.) Have to think of a second subject now, to extend the piece. Think I may go with an atmospheric vibraphone and glockenspiel duet, with some tomtoms using feathered beaming.

Thanks Mark! I made a few little tweaks to the rendition today, as the dynamics were occasionally too extreme. Also added some more slurs to the piano score, and a few other improvements. Alex

Thanks Henry, and Happy Year Of The Snake!

I decided to go with Cinestrings Solo, since it had much better ratings. It has some annoying bugs though, where some notes are much louder than others. The available articulations are very limited also.