Sir_Dotdotdot

@ OMWBWAY: Thanks, the harp pedaling comments was especially helpful. @ Sam: It's a transposed score, not concert pitch, as stated on the first page of music.

Thanks, all. :)

Thanks, it's probably mostly the reverb, I didn't add much pedal to the piece since Sibelius won't play it back right either way.

Hello all~ I haven't really been posting much or anything on these forums, however, when I somehow accidentally found this place again, I thought it'd be interesting to see some of your comments on my music. Since I'm an unfamiliar face here, I'll give a brief introduction about myself: I am a seventeen years old composer who wrote a variety of works ranging from solos to chamber ensembles to orchestral pieces. I write mainly in the genre of contemporary classical, loosely basing my pieces on Schoenberg's 12-tone technique. I have studied composition under a former University of Toronto professor for almost two years. My main influences are mainly 20th century (e.g. Stravinsky, Bartok, Webern...), though like much the composers of that time, I prefer to employ forms of the Baroque and Classical era. However, I'm a firm believer that a composer should be well-rounded and well-educated in all styles, for there's always some techniques that might be interesting for your own style. But enough about me, I mean, the point of this thread is about my piece, so without further ado... ~~~ The Juniper Tree - a folktale for orchestra Though many people consider Brothers Grimms' tales to be children's tales and 'fairy tales', there are many stories that actually weren't meant for children. Even Hansel and Gretel was intended to be quite grim, though, much of these tales were morphed into the happy little fairy tales we see today. Furthermore, Brothers Grimms' tales weren't all 'fairy tales', many of them were just plain folktales since supernatural elements weren't present. And I chose to set my symphonic poem in one of these folktales. The Juniper Tree, quite frankly, is a somewhat cliched story that could be summed up in one line: evil stepmother kills boy, boy transforms into bird, bird kills stepmother. Despite the simplicity of the story, I realized that a purely musical setting might be able to give the story an entirely new face. Furthermore, The Juniper Tree is quite eccentric in its description and narration. If you have never read the story, I'd suggest you to at least have a little glance at it; it's actually quite a strange story, in my opinion. ~~ Originally, I intended the piece to be divided into sections in accordance to the Golden ratio (i.e. dividing 14 minutes by the .618 (phi)). However, the story, being eccentric with its descriptions, somewhat led me another way. The 14 minutes symphonic poem could be divided in 4 simple sections, in accordance to the story. The first section depicts the scene of the birth of the main character, the death of the mother, and the mystical Juniper Tree. The second section depicts the murder of the boy and how the stepmother made him into a dinner. The third section depicts the burial of the remains of the boy by his stepsister and the boy's revival as a bird. The fourth section, evidently, portrays the murder of the mother, and the vaguely happy ending for the boy, his stepsister, and his father. Despite the fact that the main melodic elements all derived from two tone rows (one row was the 'protagonist' and the other the 'antagonist'), much of the harmony could be considered quite tonal, and at times (e.g. letter B with the bassoons) bitonal. Yes, the piece is based largely on motifs and they recur in different forms when need be. Orchestration wise, it's for a moderate sized orchestra without most of the brass, so in other words, something like Ravel's Tombeau de Couperin. My influences in orchestration for this piece was mainly Richard Strauss because of his ingenious ability to dramatize a story with instrumental colours. Therefore, I was listening to a lot of Salome, Elektra, and Till Eulenspiegel as I was constructing this piece. ~~~ Having done co-op at a music publications, I have learned that a composer's responsibility does not end at just finishing a piece. A composer is also responsible that the score, which is what represents the composer if they are not present, is elegant that there shall be no ambiguity in conveying his/her ideas in a performance. So I would greatly appreciate it if you can especially focus on the score when you provide me with a critique! Since it's a relatively big piece and I don't have an orchestra at my dispose, I could only use GPO to make a relatively unrealistic recording of the piece. Please note that some effects (e.g. stopped to opened horn) are missing in the recording. As well, I have provided only fragments of the piece in the audio since some parts just don't work out at all on my computer. D: But other than that, I hope you'll enjoy. :) Letter A and letter B of the piece: Letter A and Letter B.mp3 - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage Letter F and part of letter G of the piece: Letter F and Letter G.mp3 - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage Part of letter I of the piece:Letter I.mp3 - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage The Juniper Tree - Good Copy.pdf

This piece was interesting in colour and clear in form, though, a few points I think might improve the piece: 1.) The left hand figure for the entire first section remained very static, so perhaps varying the rhythmic pattern might help. If the accompaniment is static, like white noise, the audience will 'tune out' of it. 2.) You seem to like thirds a lot in the beginning, how about, then, making the recapitulation in sixths instead? Repetition is a great device, but it'd be better if there were some variation. It's kind of like talking, you won't say the same thing twice in the exact same way, would you? 3.) The booming bass note in the middle section is also somewhat static, perhaps dotted rhythms here and there? Overall, though, I felt that this piece could use a perhaps a bit more contrast. There's a lot of bass throughout. I mean, it's not a bad thing, but if you give the audience something lighter, the contrast will make your intended colour much more worthwhile when it comes back.

Here are two selections out of seven from my Collection of Piano Miniatures: Rondo: Rondo.mp3 - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage Reverie: Reverie.mp3 - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage Both pieces are relatively simple in construction in form. However, tonality for either pieces are somewhat stretched for some people's taste. I hope you'll enjoy, and any critiques are welcomed.

Thanks for the kind comment~! I think instead of the koto,you mean the panflute. But again, thanks~!

Originally, when I was younger, I wanted to try the koto, oboe and harp. Fortunately enough, I was able to take lessons for oboe and an alternative for koto... But I quitted the koto thing after a while because I knew I'm just not right for it. So I guess I'm pretty lucky to try 2 out of 3 of the instruments I really want to try. But as of now, I would like to play viola d'amore, oboe d'amore, English horn, bass oboe, heckelphone and other exotic instruments. :P

Hmm... I like major seventh chords (my favourite chord is F-A-C-E, heh). For orchestration, my favourite doublings are: bassoon and horn in octaves or unison, harp harmonics against celesta (very very shiny and beautiful), clarinet and oboe in a relative close interval, and low string pizzicatos with harp. For special effects, I like harp bisbligando (sp?), bowed vibraphone, wind chimes (not really special effect, but meh), whistle tone on flute, and etc...

Hello all, A little introduction about myself: I actually had an old account here some 1 to 1.5 years ago, but I kind of forgot about it... So I made a new one. So yeah, for all of you that does not know me (which is probably going to me like 99% of the people here), I am Sir_Dotdotdot (pretty obvious), and I have composed for more than 2 years. I am mostly influenced by impressionistic music and 20th century music (basically: Ravel, Stravinsky, Debussy and all that). I also love orchestrating music, I always insisted that if music were different drawings, then orchestration must be the colour, so yeah... I am also an oboist, which is great since not many people play the oboe. But yeah, I guess explaining myself in words would take forever, so why don't we just get right to my music? ^^' About the piece: Well, I know it's kind of not right to post something Christmas-sy in June, but hey, it's one of the most recent and 'complete' work that I feel that I can share. ~~~ This piece is a movement of my 'Christmas Suite' which I planned for three movements (and this one is the second one). It's for a full symphonic orchestra with a pan flute and is rather simple musically. It doesn't exactly follow any forms or structure (so no ABA, Arc form, Binary or whatever), it's just basically a bunch of different sections, motifs and whatnot put in various structures to convey the atmosphere of 'Christmas'. It opens with a rather ethereal harp, flute, and percussion texture (I used some special percussions/percussion effects like wooden wind chimes, cymbal scrapes, finger cymbals and etc...) with a very soft celesta ostinato. Eventually, strings come in and change the atmosphere of the piece which leads to the next section where the clarinet boasts a dolce melody with strings accompanying it and the rhythmic tambourine playing. Eventually, it gets into the highlight of the piece where the entire orchestra flourishes (though unfortunately, I couldn't incorporate a maestoso tutti as I wanted to). In the end of that section, the bassoon ends the somewhat 'excited' atmosphere back to a relaxed and tranquil quality. Then the opening restates itself with some differences. So yeah, that's my piece... I hope you'll enjoy it. :) All comments and criticisms are welcome. A link to my piece could be found through here: Ichigo's Sheet Music - Game and Anime Sheet Music Just click the Christmas Suite- Second Movement 'Pastorale' link and you'll have it.