Matthew Becker

I'm sorry, but I don't see it either. Is this intended to be a rhythmic technique? If so, I strongly recommend seeking out Cage, Carter, Stockhausen, and especially Stravinsky. Don't ignore the 20th century!

Around which year was that piece written? I've listened to Part in the past and have not come across his work. Though generally I must admit that his pre-tintinnabuli works are far more interesting. His Colage uber B-A-C-H and his first two symphonies I actually found enjoyable.

Hey, guys, I don't know why it uploaded in Orchestral; I had uploaded the piece in my user profile page. Perhaps minimalism isn't quite the right term for it, since it is intended only to be a short piece. Perhaps an Étude would be a more accurate label. School's a bit nuts right now, and there's another piano piece I'm working to finalize, but I'll be sure to post updates to this one at the end of term. Thanks to you both for your feedback. I never think of alternating time signatures; that would really add an effect of surprise from time to time. Perhaps even a 5/8 measure; we'll see.

Short prelude written for the piano. Not particularly happy with some of the material in the 2nd half of the work or so (mostly because some of the sonorities don't sound so right to me, plus there are some jumps in both hands that could be tricky at the given tempo), but thought I'd put it up here for comments. Alas, the Finale recording tends to ignore a lot of the articulation written in the score, so the playback is not accurate. Prelude #5 - Wanderlust

I like this quite a lot, actually. Too bad it was rejected; but that means that it can be used for something else!

Hi, Josh. To be honest, I didn't care for your changing your 6/4 meter as I had some trouble following the beat from time to time. Of course, I don't know if you're going for a disjointed look or not. Going back to your earlier desires of using dissonances, I don't know how you can make it work into this piece other than by gradual insertion. Also, and these are just nitpicks, watch your scoring. You have fermatas in place in the horn and snare at mm.8, but none of the other voices have that marking in their part. Yes, it is a bit tedious particularly for instruments that are resting, but it needs to be done! Keep writing. :)

You seem to have a good idea of where you want to go with your fanfare. My only suggestion thus far is that you haven't really shown us enough to sort of get the "grasp" of what you're trying to tell us with your music. It's hard for me personally to comment since there's not that much that you've shown us. But I am curious as to what you plan to do when you say you're planning to add more dissonance as your work progresses. Is this something that you see sort of taking over gradually, or will it sort of just "happen" by use of the proverbial sledgehammer?

Depending on what the school has to offer, it does matter. For a composition major, you should really look into whichever schools interest you and find out which resources are readily available to composition students. The best way is to check each school's website for more information about their program. Who your composition prof(s) may be is also important, so you should also do some background checks (ie. Google) on those profs to see the type of music that they write, and go from there.

No, you don't need to renew it. And to my understanding you should be able to authorize it up to 3 times. Did you have to reinstall it? And if you did, did you de-authorize Finale before doing so? Either way, you'll probably have to call their customer support in order to have one of those authorizations taken off.

Thanks, Gardener. You actually pinpointed me to the right area. I just chose not to have key signatures displayed with those two instruments. Muchly appreciated, thanks again. :)

Hi, guys. I'm trying to start a piece that has no key signature written in the score. Of course, I could choose "C major" or "A minor", but I have transposing instruments (F Horn and B-flat clarinet). So those staves are getting key signatures, but I don't want them to have any at all. Of course, trying to modify them individually doesn't work, as it modifies the score in its entirety. I could, of course, just have Finale display everything as a C score, but that's really not what I want. In addition, it will give highly inaccurate feedback. The help section in Finale is utterly useless, not to mention confusing. Any help you guys can offer would be great. :)

I feel the same way. I'm still learning how to use Finale with all its functionality. Why confuse myself further by taking on another program? The learning curve for both is about the same, I think.

I don't know, chopin. Are you looking to broaden this website into a general forum where composers of all walks of life are invited (not that you're excluding older composers)? Perhaps the reason that some composers in their prime join here is to help the younger ones along. Ultimately it depends on what you want to focus on.

Impresario, certain elements are only available in the full version of Finale. It could be that what you're looking for may also be in a different area. Checking the help section can help you determine whether you can do this or not.