P.J. Meiser

I can't listen to it right now, but from looking at the score.... You might as well have two separate staffs for cello and viola if you're having them divisi the whole time anyway. On a similar note, having that much divisi in the first place might not be a good idea, unless you deliberately want a thin texture. A junior high string orchestra probably won't have more than 6 cellos and even fewer violas. Maybe simplify or revoice the chords from the guitar. Giving the basses an independent part also probably won't work well, and while it doubled/octaved cello some of the time, the resonance would drop out the times it isn't. The triple stop in m. 19 in the second violins looks dangerous, especially for a young player, but I'm not exactly a string player myself so yeah....

This is one of the big questions I have when trying to place Mozart in the present, too. This might be another myth perpetuated by Amadeus, but from what I understand, the "classical" music of his time was almost analogous to our pop music to a certain extent. While Mozart and his contemporaries certainly had better craft than modern pop musicians, he was much more popular than any modern art music composer.

^I really hate it when nouns get used as tempo markings too. Especially with added punctuation. I'm doing a band piece that has "Intensity!" as a tempo marking....

We're doing the Faure Requiem for our Lenten contest. The offetory's really high.... The chamber choir is doing another mass by a alum. Fun stuff.

I haven't listened to it, but looking at the score it seems a little un-idiomatic. With all due respect, the piano is capable of much more than the parallel rhythms and chords that dominate the fast sections of this work. It just comes off as two-dimensional and pop-ish. I like the slower sections much better, but it would probably work better if notated in 6/8. You have the melodic material mostly in a pretty high register. I think it would serve you well to have some of the melodic material in the tenor/alto range of the piano and mix up the accompaniment textures a little. Keep it up though. :) Writing for piano is harder than you might think.

True, but wouldn't that be somewhat of a faux pas? Especially in an educational setting. It just comes off as "I can't get anyone else to play my compositions, so I'll have my students/orchestra/etc. do it."

Not very. But then again, I'm not that great at my first instrument either.... :(

Even if marching band shows aren't "real music" by your standards, somebody has to write them. Let Jeff do what he wants.

^stfu It would be nice if you had a decent score though. Most marching bands do use music at some point and the directors will no doubt want a usable score.

Very nice. I especially like the brass part 2/3rds in or so. I always have trouble using brass in a remotely lyrical manner. EDIT: Score plox?

I can't listen to it, but the tenor part is really rangey. Unless you're writing for exceptional professionals or are intentionally going for falsetto, I'd do something about the high the A at 13 and the 8th note phrase with the B (:O) at 15.

I more or less fall in line with this. I write what I want to, and if it sounds late-romantic (as it usually does :whistling:) than so be it.

Very Beethovenesque indeed.

Yummy. :) Who's it by?