Abracadabra

I posted this in the wrong forum. It should have been posted in "Incomplete Works; Writer's Block and Suggestions" Sorry for the error. I meant to post it in the other forum and posted it here entirely by mistake. If someone could move it to the proper forum I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

I’m trying to write a song for a fantasy game called The Dark Scrolls of Bavidirian. I have no clue what I’m doing and I’m open to any and all suggestions. I’m extremely lame in music theory. I’m extremely lame as a musician as well. And I can’t sing worth a darn, but I’m the only voice available at the moment. So far I’ve only written the first verse to this piece. I started improvising it live on the guitar. Then I typed it into the sheet music program. I put it in the key of A only because that seemed to work the best as far as accidentals are concerned. I have no clue what key I’m even in. Am I in the key of A? Or E? Or some other minor key? I’m using the E chord and D chord, but I’m also using the A-note as part of the base line with the D-chord. I have no clue what I’m doing. I just make noise. I put in some cello to beef up the base, but it just plays the same thing as the guitar. I’m trying to add flute, violin and clarinet just for fun. I didn’t type in the melody for the lyrics. I just sing them and I have no clue what notes they are. I did write in the lyrics beneath the guitar though. Two things I’m concerned at this point: 1. One is the lead in measures. I’m not happy with this lead-in, but it sounds better than just blasting into it straight. I would like to give it a better lead-in. Something that makes it sound like it’s ‘waking up from a deep sleep. I could even add more measures to the beginning. 2. The other thing that I’m concerned with is measure 20 where the violin and clarinet play together. Are they clashing? I wanted to get the flute in there too and have all three of them doing something differnet and distinct but I have no clue how to do that. Anyway, should I continue with this or just go hide my head in a bucket? Here are the files: Music mp3 file (900 KB) PDF Score I can post a midi if anyone wants it. It will be minus the lyrics of course. Any help, comments, boos or hisses are welcome. As far as progressions go, I’m looking at moving onward to Bm and A. for the next verse in a similar manner that I did with E and D. Then from there I’m looking at moving on to C#m and G. For a third verse. Then I was planning on “walking” back down G, C#m, Bm, A, and back to the original E and D where it all started. I realize that this probably sounds crazy. I’m not using any theory at all, I’m just jumping around on the guitar with what seems to work for me. But then again, I do want this piece to have an “unearthly sound” to it. After all, it is supposed to be from an unearthly fantasy land. ;) This is what I’m striving for. I kind of want it to sound a bit ‘strange’ or ‘alien’ in a way. So any help or comments would be appreciated.

How expensive are they anyway? If someone needs them that desperately maybe they should try to make an appeal to some sort of music consortium to see if they could fund the 'project'. Or is this just a personal desperation thing. (ha ha) The OP kind of left us in the dark as to precisely why they are needed.

Where was it ever mentioned that anyone needed to keep it?

Well, they've been known to do that too. ;) I actually made the comment I made in regard to EldKatt's hardnose stance that no one here could help in a legal manner. That was clearly a blanket statement that holds no water. Moreover, it would not be illegal for someone to give away their legally purchased copy of a a copyrighted material. Perhaps someone bought the score and no longer needs it. There is no law against them giving the original document to someone else. They could mail it to him and that would be perfectly within the law. So there are quite a few ways to legally obtain copyrighted materials without having to pay for them. You just can't copy them is all. ;)

All I can say is that if it's meant to be atonal it's probably pretty cool. If it's not meant to be atonal then it sucks. (ha ha) What else can I say? It's not my genre obvisously. Sorry I'm not much help. At least I took a listen. ;)

I can't give you any help because I probably know less than you. I listened to it first using Realplayer and it wasn't very good because the viola overwhelmed everything else. I loaded it into Melody Assistent and adjusted the volumes and it was much better with everything playing closer to the same volumn level. Other than that I have no suggestions. It sounded ok to me. Nothing to write home about, but I see nothing wrong with it either. Like you said, it's not finished yet. It sounds ok to me. ;)

Yes, a library is your best shot. Most libraries can also do inter-library loan, so if they don't have it, they may be able to borrow it from another library for you. Libraries are a public service that allow you to legally obtain materials that are copyrighted without the need to buy them outright. ;)

I'm not a composer and I have no clue what I'm talking about. But just as a casual listener I enjoyed it. ;)

I actually I think I do that already. I had stated that I do melody before 'harmony'. Not melody before 'rhythm'. Maybe I'm misunderstanding the terms. To me, Harmony would have to do with things like chord progressions, keys, and modulation. It doesn't necessarily have anything at all to do with rhythm. In other words, I could write a chord progressions with modulations and never suggest what rhythm should be used, and I would have defined a "Harmony". Any rhythm could then be applied to that harmony. Like I say, this is my understanding of the terms. And so I could be wrong. So when I say that I start with melody first, I'm thinking that I just sing the song melodically, and then fill in whatever harmonies are required to go with that tune. The beat, (or rhythm) is a totally seperate issues for me. In fact, when I stop and think about it, the beat (or rhythm) usually does come first and it comes directly from the mood of the lyrics. Along with whatever rhythm just happens to possess me at the time. (ha ha) Here's another example of a song I wrote. You're The Author <--- this is a link to my web page with the mp3. I started with the lyrics, then melody, then found chords (harmony) to match the melody. I have no clue where the rhythm came from (ha ha) I never gave a thought to designing the meter. I just did what came natural to me. So in a sense, I guess I was already allowing the lyrics to 'dictate' the rhythm. I've also posted this song with the lyrics and chords in the Choral/Vocal forum here: http://www.youngcomposers.com/forum/youre-author-15351.html <--- this is a link to a forum post. I have no clue how to write a song. I just do the best I can. But with songs, I always start with lyrics first, and then let the music come out of that. With instrumental pieces I imagine a person can come at it from any direction. It might start with a beat, or a harmony, or a melody. I can see any 'seed' evolving into more complex music. Once you have music I suppose you could be inspired to write lyrics for it too. Usually the songs I write are inspired by thoughts that inspire lyrics directly (I tend to write a lot of poetry). So once I have the lyrics in place, then I need to come up with music to put them to. So that's just a natural process that I go through, but it's certainly not the only way, nor necessarily the best way. Any method that works is great! I guess I'm more of a lyrcists than a musician. So that's why I work from words toward music. But I see no reason why it can't go in the other direction too. I do see people who have written music and are seeking lyrcists to put words to it. They usually have some idea of what they want to convey, they just aren't good at manipulating words to fit the music well. So this is why they start with the music and work back toward the words. Everyone is different and that's cool. ;) Thanks for the advice by the way. I'll have to look into the video you've posted. I'm on dial-up so I'll have to download it whilst I go mow the lawn or something.

Thank you. That's nice to know. I kind of thought that'd be the case, but I wasn't sure. I'm sure I'll be playing really simple stuff. I just wasn't sure if there might be some really major difference in the bows that I was unaware of. This is cool. I love the cello and I'd like to write for it, but I just have this quirky thing that I don't like to write music for any instrument that I can't at least play scales on. ;) Just a personal quirky thing. I like to improvise on an instrument when I'm writing music for it.

Flint, would it be alright if I hitch a ride on your thread? I just have a quick question for cellists and I didn't want to start a whole new thread to ask it. I'm looking at a student cello for $278 from Kennedy Violins. Kennedy Beginning Cellos I realize this is just a 'toy' cello. But I'm not planning on becoming a cellist. I just want a cello to fool around on when I'm composing to try out different things. So I don't want to spend a lot of money on one. I bought a $90 violin from Kennedy Violins and it turned out to be real nice so I'm thinking this beginner's cello might not be too bad either. In any case here's my question: Is there any difference between a violin bow and a cello bow other than the length? Could I get by using a violin bow (or a viola bow which I already have) to just try things out on the cello? The reason I ask is because to get it with a bow is an extra $78 that I'd rather not spend if I can get by without it. Sorry for being so cheap, but I'm already going out on a limb to spend the $278 plus $50 shipping. I just want the cello to try things out on. So is it feasible to play a 4/4 cello with a viola bow (that's what I'd actually use). Is the only difference in the length of the bow? Or is a cello bow heftier in some other way, like wider or whatever? My appologies to Flint if my "thread high-jack" is inappropreate.

Unfortunately, I'm still hoping to find such a piece. Thus far I'm fairly convinced that if I want such a thing I'll have to write it myself. ;) If it's even possible.

I kind of figure that. That's why I was saying that hearing the music would help a lot. Sometimes things can be made to fit, it all depends on the music. I can come up with lyrics better if I actualy have the music in my head to toy around with the different phrases. Then I could actually sing it for you to show you how I'm imagining it to go. Without hearing your music I have no clue what to suggest.

I'm glad to hear that. I've been farting about 25 times a day and I was starting to worry that I was having a problem. I looked it up though and found that about 15 to 25 farts a day is normal. So I'm still hanging in there as pretty normal. I am going to start watching my diet though and see if I can get back into the middle of the normal range at least.