Trumpetman252

A very nice piece. I really enjoyed the beginning! It flows very well, and even reminds me of Vincent Persichetti's music. You seem to have a good sense of harmony. However, although I can understand that you want to "focus on the sounds," the purpose of music is to be performed. It is a language that uses sound (not the Finale Softsynth sounds :P) as its medium, so, if you do not write within the ranges of the instruments, or if a certain lick is completely impractical, etc., then the chances of a performance greatly diminish. Without performances (the sources of the sound), there is no music. There are only dots and lines on a page. When a composer says, "I'm writing music," what he really means is this: "I am putting a set of instructions onto a piece of paper that will tell the performers which sounds to make." The sounds are the music, not the symbols. The computer can interpret these symbols to a degree, but the piece would be less likely to have a life outside of your computer. That said, the piece fits together quite nicely, sound-wise. It strikes me as being a simple song of contentment. Well done! Are you a woodwind player?

Sounds really cool! Very good use of rhythm and counterpoint (jazzy rhythms seem to pervade all of your music). The independent parts work very well together, and I particularly enjoyed the bell-tones. The piece sounds like an eclectic blend of pop/rock and contemporary concert music! The only issues that I found were these (these have more to do with personal taste than with any "hard rules"): 1.) At times (usually where the low brass have sustained low notes), the rhythm seems to kind of "plod along" without much variety. Adding some counterpoint, or even just putting some rhythmic accents or syncopations in those parts would really make it dance more. 2.) Near the end, when the saxophones play the motive again, it gets lost because you have orchestrated too thickly in the brass instruments. You might consider having the brass put in mutes in sections where this is the case, or possibly having just one player per part, or even reorchestrating it so that the low woodwinds have the background figures instead. 3.) The ending didn't seem to have enough build-up. It seems like you just kind of threw an ending in there because you had to. :P It is really a very fun piece of music. It sounds like it could be used for a variety of events, as well (marching shows in particular). I think it would be really cool if Symphonic Band would perform it!

Hehe, yeah I made the switch to Sibelius last semester. With Finale, it felt like I was drawing the music onto the page, but Sibelius feels more like a word processor; I can just type it in, so it is much faster! I used a sample library I bought last semester called EastWest/Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra (EWQLSO) to get the sounds, and used a sequencer called SONAR 8 to do the editing. I'm still learning how to use them, though. I highly recommend it. :)

It's called aleatoric music, although I'm not sure if that's what you meant. Do you mean the "real" name for it, or the name that Sibelius gives to it? I basically just went to the line tool and selected the box, and then resized it to encompass the entire measure, and then used the thick, squiggly line to cover the rest of the measures (just a bunch of click-and-drag). Did that answer your question? :P

Hehe, this is an old piece that I posted a while ago. I would definitely agree with everything you said; I just need to give the player some room to breathe. I'll definitely look at that flute/percussion piece! Seems like an interesting ensemble.

Hmmm...OK. The idea was basically to have a "shimmery" effect in the background, so I suppose any kind of fast, liquid, high-range harmonics would do. Although perhaps I notated it incorrectly; I was trying to tell the player to play all of the overtones of the A string. Have I not written it the right way? Good luck with that repertoire, those are difficult pieces for sure! Thanks for the advice. :)

Wow, thanks! Glad you liked it. I wrote it for Morteza Rabii (you may have heard the name) and John Bond (a very talented pianist), and it will probably get performed some time next semester (hopefully I can finish the other movements by then). By the way, I really liked your flute piece! Wish I could have heard it live. Are you getting anything performed on the May 7 Composers Guild concert?

Haha! That happens to me as well! You?

Sorry to sound impatient! Not trying to come across that way at all. I see what you mean about the harmonics. Are you a cellist yourself? As for the titles, I guess I'm kind of a mystic (I see scenes and colors in my head as I write music; it's part of my technique), but since it seems a little cheesy I might shorten the titles to something like "Flight" or "Rainforest" or something along those lines. Thanks!

Bump. Would appreciate some critiques, please. Thanks a lot! :)

Hmm....Eugene Bozza's "Caprice" and Joseph Turrin's "Caprice" are both great pieces.

A good start, although I would have to agree that a triple-stop for the cello is a bit difficult to play on those pitches. I would say that you have a good first theme here. Although you've said this is an intro, it would probably seem to the audience to be more like an actual opening melody, so you might want to develop it as such. With some alteration, parts of it might even work in canon (with the answer on the fourth beat of the measure, if you're using the motive from the first 2 measures). Also, the block chords in the cello make the piece seem very static. While this can be a cool effect sometimes (I've used that myself), it seems like this passage needs some counterpoint in the cello and viola, even if they just arpeggiate the chord on 8th-notes (or, perhaps a legato, syncopated countermelody might do the trick?). I think this would add motion to the music without making it lose the effect you seem to be trying to achieve. I would love to see the rest of the piece when it is finished!

A very well-written piece. You seem to know the instrument quite well, although I can see what you mean when you say that that was not the way you personally would have performed it! I thought you did a good job fo capturing the feeling of loneliness. The only part of the piece that might need some fixing would be the ending. You recap your motives, but they seem to go by too quickly (perhaps they are too short?) for the audience to recognize them, so the ending feels a little abrupt. Just my 2 cents. :)

Hey everyone, sorry I haven't posted on these boards for a while! Anyway, here is the first movement of a four-movement work for 'cello and piano that I'm writing for a couple of friends. Each movement depicts a different scene that played out in my head as I wrote the piece. The first movement, "Mythical Rainforest With Birds," depicts a very bright, pastoral setting within a forest. A stream can be heard flowing in the distance, as well as quiet birdsong. Small "droplets" of brilliant white light float around, and the landscape and sky outside of the forest are pure and serene. I have the concepts/images in my head for the other movements, which I will probably compose over the summer if I have time. NOTE: The audio file is far from perfect. I'm still learning how to use EWQLSO and SONAR 8, so please don't judge the piece based on how the computer plays it. Thanks for listening. :) Sound: Forest.mp3 Score: Mythical Rainforest PDF3.pdf

Although I can appreciate the desire to write a piece that challenges the performer, the Bb trumpet is generally rather squeaky and dry in its extreme ranges (although some jazz trumpeters can play very high with no problem at all). The range of this piece makes it rather impractical to perform. Also, why have you notated everything as if it is in 6/8 time? You've written the piece in 3/4, but your 8th-notes are grouped in 3s rather than in 2s (or, you could just group all 6 of them together). Although beaming them in 3s is OK if you want a hemiola effect (a la Stravinsky), it really does sound like your beat emphasis is 1-&-2-&-3-&, rather than 1-2-3-4-5-6. As far as the tune goes, the melody is very nicely put together, an the harmonies and counterpoint seem to work very well. Good job. :)