Lizard

This post marks the end of a long period of absence from these forums - I have been quite busy with Uni work during the last year, but this should be a thing of the past for next few months. I plan on participating a bit more regularly over the next time, and to celebrate I'm uploading the first piece I completed after finishing my studies! Dragon sneaking up on girl was inspired by a cute painting (the top one). I produced it over the course of two days, so the instrumentation is quite sparse. Of course, the score is also available. Apologies if it's a bit cluttered, I didn't foresee how the piece would turn out and was too lazy to pull it apart afterwards (but should be no problem to read). As always, any opinion or criticism is welcome!

Nice! I like the melody, the harmonization may be a bit static but the playful piano kind of makes up for that. What bothered me as a native speaker of German is that the placement of the words is completely off, you are emphasizing unstressed syllables by putting them on strong beat times (e.g. "Bl

Haha, wonderful. Listening to that put a smile on my face :)

Thanks for the feedback! Sorry I didn't respond sooner, my spam filter blocked the update notification for this thread and I assumed that nobody had answered. I was going for a kind of serenity with this song, so I'm glad to hear that you found it relaxing. :) I agree that the accompaniment may need a bit more pep to make it more interesting, but I wasn't sure how to do it without losing the 'flow' of the piece. What would you recommend? Change of instrumentation, rhythm, tonal center?

A new piece I had some problems classifying... is it Pop? Probably not, but it's definitely not classical, either. I'm putting it up here, see what you make of it :). Linky: The world is as it is (MP3) I'm also attaching the score: The world is as it is.pdf

Well, thanks for all your replies! :) It seems all of you mostly agree with what I've been doing anyway (which is trying to apply what I've learned in theory class without it getting in the way of the sound I want to have), so now I'll feel less guilty about it. Thanks again, and I guess I'll be back to post the result of my work, when I get around to finishing it!

Hi all, just a quick question regarding the application of 'proper' music theory to pop/rock pieces: Do you think it is appropriate or necessary to watch out for the fallacies encountered in four-part writing when composing a pop song as well? E.g., I'm doing one right now, and write parallel fifths and octaves all the time between the voice part and the bass guitar. Do you think this should be avoided at all costs, or is it simply a different context, where such things are acceptable? Do you know which is the prevailing view on this, or am I the only one who thinks about this stuff? Thanks in advance for your input!

echurchill, thanks for taking the time to leave some feedback :). Of course I always try to create whatever I like best (and put some effort into that), but I have also always regarded composition as a craft which I could only improve by constantly performing it and experimenting with stuff, so in this sense, all of my compositions can be regarded as exercises to enhance my composition skills. I mean, what's the sense in only doing stuff that's been shown to work anyway? Of course you'll need that as well for a solid grounding, but in principle I find it much more exciting to discover a new fragment that works in spite of what everyone says, rather than because of it. However, you've got to know the rules before you break them, so I'm trying to stick to these for the time being and right now just try to learn to use the tools provided to me by generations of composers who went before me more efficiently :).

Hi Niku! Thanks for providing feedback, and sorry for my taking so long to reply (but it's Christmas after all ;))! You mentioned some mistakes in the piece; regarding this, I'd just like to state that indeed I have not yet received feedback from my teacher regarding this stuff, and although I tried to take care to avoid the most common mistakes, there will surely be some left which I didn't spot. I think you are quite right about the overall harmonic setting; it's quite static, and might have benefited from a change to another key for a few measures. I'm especially grateful for the feedback regarding the last line - I was going for a sense of otherworldliness for the ending, but it's good to receive actual feelings on whether it worked or not (and you can always learn more by making mistakes than by getting something right by chance). Getting a good feeling for the appropriate timing of modulations (and where to modulate to!) is something with which I am still struggling, but I guess that's why I'm taking this course on harmony, after all. In any case, your post gave me some valuable insights as well :). Thanks again and happy holidays!

By the way, if you feel that the piece is too trivial for a proper comment, I'd like to know that as well... just leave a note to that effect, I won't be offended or anything :).

Hi all, since I've been quiet during the last few weeks (due to lack of time either for posting or composition), I've decided to upload this piece so you can see what I'm up to these days. It was done for an assignment in the introductory harmony course I'm taking this semester, so it's not very polished - but it's not bad, either. The task was to set a short extract from a German song for a mixed choir, actually only two lines: "Gott will im Dunkel wohnen, und hat es doch erhellt / Als wollte er belohnen, so richtet er die Welt." This translates to "Gott wants to live in darkness, and has yet [illuminated/lightened/brightened] it / as though seeking to reward, he does judge the world." (Sorry, it's a bit clumsy, but I can't do better). The full German song text can be found here: Br AS-Gott_will_im_Dunkel_wohnen.pdf AS-Gott_will_im_Dunkel_wohnen.mid

I think I already commented on the original post as to the high quality of the piece, so judging only the performance, I think you are quite accurate in your assessment. Some notes sound a bit wobbly, but overall a very satisfying performance. I especially enjoyed the texturing, but the voices also hold their own individually. Good choir :).

Good to hear! Looking forward to it. :)

So, how did it go?

That was fun! The Pachelbel quote made me smile, and I liked the transition. I didn't mind the contrast between the beginning and the middle part, however, the middle part seemed to drag somewhat because it felt uninspired to me (at least, compared to the other parts of the piece). Overall, liked it. :)