ydnandrew

So do I not get a full review? Anyone? I realize it's fairly long, but I'd really appreciate more feedback.

I began writing this over the summer with some sketches I wrote while sitting at the piano. A few sections are very choppy because the transitions really haven't been worked out. The basic idea is the dance of the goblin vs. the demented lullabye the goblin sings to the human child. Open to harsh criticism. Goblin_Dreams.mid

I wrote this piece as part of a video game soundtrack. The game was never finished, but there's no reason that the music should go to waste. For this piece the game designers asked me to come up with something dark and mysterious that could be played as background while the game characters are traveling through a cave. They liked the first movement but wanted something more haunting, so I came up with the second movement. Both movements are based on a 12-tone (dodecaphonic) line, with only minor deviations, including an obvious whole tone passage in the first movement. cave1.mid cave2.mid

I wrote this piece a number of years ago before learning anything about orchestration. The string and percussion parts are elementary at best, but overall the piece has been very successful on my (and other people's) website and in various email stationary where it has been used. I believe the title is descriptive enough that I don't need to tell a story. ChildsDream.mid

I was attracted to this piece because I am a trumpet player. I can tell you in all honesty that none of the trumpet players at my university would probably want to read, let alone perform, this piece. It's just not that interesting to listen to or play. The opening chorale has its moments. More interesting chords could certainly be substituted. If the parts were all a little more independent that might help too. Try to make the parts interesting on their own, without the other parts playing. Using rhythms that don't always line up from part to part should help this. The use of suspensions and other non-chord tones (that resolve) will also help to stress the tonality. On the issue of tonality, I feel that this piece teeters back and forth from strictly tonal to something that just doesn't make a lot of sense. There are a lot of chromatic members used throughout that don't make sense diatonically or harmonically. While there's nothing wrong with that when it seems to work aesthetically and just happens to sound right, in this case I feel that it really detracts from any sense of melody or unity in sound. Through the faster sections I recommend changing up the rhythm a bit with something besides quarter and eighth notes. Try some dotted note patterns, triplets, or mixed meters. I think 5/8 or 6/8 would sound great, giving it a dance-like feel. This could give a clear division in the piece of chorale vs. dance. These are all just some ideas of mine, only meant as suggestions. If you're happy with the piece just the way it is then forget what I say. I don't always take the advice of my professors and they've been at this stuff a lot longer than me.

I posted a review of this 2 or 3 nights ago, as well as a few uploads of my own music. They were all up that night. I proof read them after posting. Now everything has disappeared. I can't for the life of me understand why. Perhaps in the next couple of days I'll find some time to do it all over again.

This is my first real major work. I started writing it just after I graduated high school in 1996. It sat on my hard drive for years until last year when I decided to revisit it and see if it could be saved. I spent about 6 months working on it on my own then took it to my composition lessons (U of Tenn, Chattanooga) and spent nearly a full semester working on it. Our symphonic band will read the piece sometime next spring (doubt that we will perform it). After that I will try to enter it in some serious competitions and get more ensembles to play it. Now about the piece itself, it is a program piece. In the summer of 1996 I was glued to the tv set watching the Olympics. Aside from the events themselves, I always liked to see the special inspirational stories they did about the athletes. One that particularly caught my attention was that of the Ukrainian gymnast Lilia Podkopayeva, who won multiple gold medals. Over the next several months I spent a lot of time online searching for information about her. The original version of this piece was 7 movements, with each movement describing different incidents or themes in her life. This has been reduced to 4 movements without leaving out any of the story. Orf_Hloec.mid Movement 1, Distress. Lilia grew up in the mining town of Donetsk, Ukraine while the country was still part of the Soviet Union. I won't get into the symbolism of each and every note on the page. I think a lot of it speaks for itself (especially the embedded anthems used through the piece). Put simply, this movement is about the struggles Lilia endured while growing up in the USSR. Oath.mid Movement 2, Discovery. Lilia was introduced to gymnastics by her grandmother. As the story goes, one day young Lilia and her grandmother were walking down the street somewhere near a bus or train depot (blatantly obvious effects in the music) where Lilia spotted a poster of a gymnast. The rest is history. Unknown.pdf Movement 3, Mourning. Shortly before the 1996 Olympics Lila got word that her grandmother had passed away. Lilia was already in Atlanta preparing for the games and could not travel home for the funeral. Lilia and her grandmother were very close, but she managed to struggle through. happ2.mid Movement 4, Triumph. This movement has 3 clear sections. It opens with Lilia's plane taking off from Ukraine, headed for Atlanta and the Olympics. While in the air Lilia has grand visions of her future success. The next section is the opening ceremony of the Olympics. There's a breif fanfare followed by the procession of each country. This theme you hear (and have heard in other places throughout the piece) is the Ukrainian national anthem, slightly modified. The third section begins with the sound of Lilia's racing heartbeat as she begins competitions. Then suddenly she's on her way. Here all of the main themese throughout the piece are pulled together simultaneously. The movement ends in a gigantic, heroic finish with Lilia atop the medals podium. GL1_Distress.mid GL2_Discovery.mid GL3_Sorrow.mid GL4_Triumph.mid