Nicholas Schuman

Absolutely lovely, listened three times in a row

You guys are awesome, thank you so much for the kind words once again. Im actually studying production and sound engineering at Catalyst Institute in Berlin, and for my final graduation project we get to propose any large scale project that we want and we had about 4 months to make it all happen. It was absolutely incredible, only the cellist was from my school but everyone else are working musicians here in Berlin. I bothered them as much as I could with questions and comments and my greatest success throughout the process was the musicians themselves somewhat enjoying the music. That meant a great deal to me since they're true professionals. I do play piano, most of my life actually, but I never really practiced so now I just use it as a resource to write music. I fell in love with classical music only about 4 years ago, before that I was into classic rock and some current pop/indie music, but man it hit me like a sledge hammer and for reason I just felt like I could do it myself. The biggest issue with composing is that I read music at a kindergarten level, like barely at all. So much of the simplicity is me just not knowing how to score what I'm thinking of or even playing on the piano. The main reason I felt confident doing this whole project is because i picked up some things in terms of orchestration, so understanding the instruments even a little bit was enough for me to jump right in. Score reading is one of my weak points for sure. As often as I do it, it's so hard for me to actually use what I learn and usually still go with my instinct. I will keep working at it, possibly by narrowing my scope so I don't get overwhelmed thinking that I need to analyze a whole symphony. I love being abroad man, Berlin is absolutely incredible. A true treasure of a city, I would recommend it to anyone. the change in scenery has also been a great excuse to push myself as much as I have been, let me know if you're ever in town! 😄 Thanks again man! Best, Nick Schuman

Many incredible moments! It is bursting with color with a subtleness not everyone can balance. Bravo! If I may begin a discussion about some of the orchestration, you are free to respond by explaining why you made these decisions rather than me just claim them as 'mistakes' whatever that means in terms of music 🙂 - The flute is much too low to be heard over the instruments, many of which play in mezzoforte. I understand it is not a solo instrument and you want it to blend, but it would be completely swallowed up. It is also too low of a register to play mezzoforte itself since these low register are very delicate in terms of air flow. Usually you would right louder passages higher on the flute and quieter passages lower. Think about how the flute works overall, the 1st partial (octave) is reached by overblowing the given note, so the lower notes need less air by the nature of the instrument. Hope this makes sense. If you wrote the part an octave up, I believe you will still achieve what you were going for since the flute is still rich and woody until you get into the higher 3rd register. Another option, would be to right it as an Alto Flute, which is one of my favorite instruments. It has an incredibly warm and beautiful quality to it. - The second violin enters in a piano dynamic at the end of the first page and later on crescendos back into piano, i dont see a real need to have a piano violin over a mezzoforte viola, maybe you meant to write mezzoforte from the beginning? - I see you thinking very much like a conductor in terms of dynamics which is great, never loose that instinct, but the players may not interpret it how you think. remember they only have their own parts so when you have violin 1 playing piano and violin 2 playing mezzopiano, there wont be much of a difference. Sometimes less is more, or at least accuracy is more. Sometimes writing 'solo' over an instrument is all you need to tell the player to stand out or even simple crescendo marking or hairpins rather than inconsistent dynamics all throughout. I would say score read specifically with dynamics in mind, probably impressionistic French or Russian composers. - Also check your rhythms to make sure you don't blur any beats. You should always be able to see a strong beat. Amazing work overall, dont let my thoughts change this great creative accomplishment. Thanks for sharing! -Nick Schuman

I absolutely love it! You clearly have a great grasp on theme and repetition. I can also really 'feel' the off-axis left hand with those 16th rests, it works very well. The accompaniment perfectly adjusts to the highs and lows throughout. Such as the beginning of measure 15 having an up-down direction in the left hand, but in measure 17 it climbs higher, staying on the top of the staff as it crescendos. Well done!

Hi Henry! What an honor to have such a thorough and kind response, especially to my first post. I want you to know that it truly means a lot to me. Yeah, my themes are all over the place and as much as I wanted to make sense of it all, i still have much to learn about themes and development. Much of it came from the stress of a deadline (for school) and writing segmented sections which are later forced together. I love how you discussed it's 'aura' :). You gave me new confidence with this response and very useful criticism which I will learn from. I'm most definitely very excited to go check out and discuss music from other composers on this forum. Cheers! Nick Schuman

Hey all! I just completed what was for me a massive project, Three Scenes for Ensemble is a set of chamber pieces (one of my first compositions) which I composed and recorded at the legendary Hansa Studios in Berlin. I felt this would be a great place to get some feedback. I know it's a ton of music, but it would be incredibly helpful to even if focus on one measure to show an example of different choices I could have made orchestration-wise, harmonically, notation-wise, etc... Thank you in advance and I hope you enjoy! If you would like to support please consider also listening on Spotify. Score Video: About the Music! Credits: Composer: Nicholas Schuman, Flute: Thomas Hahn, Oboe: Anna Schulkowski, Clarinet: Constance Morvan, French Horn: Melinda Gál, Piano: Daniel Zhao, Cello: Josiah Simonds, Sound Engineer: Arne Bergner, Assistant Engineer: Marian Hafenstein