xyc

Oh, sorry, I'm using Finale 2006. Okay, problem is solved now. :)

Does anybody know if you can set staff sizes and things like that? I'm trying to make a part for the accompanist so that the two piano staves are normal sized, but the violin part is smaller. I would like it shrunken so it's out of the way but so the accompanist can still follow along, etc. etc. Does anybody know how to do this??

I have three problems with Finale. :D 1) I have a score for a quartet piece, how do you make it just print it into just the parts (first violin, viola, etc.)? 2) I've lost a composition of mine except in midi format. Now, when Finale turns it into a .MUS file, it appears in the key of C major with accidentals for the key signature and flats where sharps are appropriate for accidentals (D flat instead of C sharp). If you try to change the key signature, finale transposes the notes (like up a third) as if it was already correct or whatever. So, is there any way I could add the key signature without the notes moving and then quickly change the flats into the sharps?? If I need to go through fixing by hand it'll take forever. 3) How do you add the 'midi patch' or whatever so the violins will play as if pizzicato? Please help, I'm playing the composition in question 2) in just a few days in a composers concert and I need to get the music to my accompanist!! Thanks.

So... is the new .MUS file working?!?? Btw, I just gave this piece of music to my orchestra conductor... he seemed pleased and I asked him to critique it and give tips and such. Somebody please give some comments if possible. Anything. Even if just about the midi...

Okay, these .MUS files were created using Finale 2006 so maybe that's the problem... though, if that's the case, it's too bad. Here, I'll try attaching a second one, so see if that works. Otherwise, can anybody at least just comment after just listening to the midi??? :lol: Allegro_Animato_2.MUS

Here is my Allegro Animato for a string quartet. I... don't have much to say about it. Some concerns: I think I'm going to change the very end (last four measures or so); perhaps to make it more dramatic or something. Also, there's one part in the middle which I didn't think sounded nice, but then I listened to it a few times and got used to it and so now I don't know whether I like it anymore or not. Okay... comment if you can. :ninja: Allegro_Animato.MUS Allegro_Animato.MID

Teardrops - Wow, very nice. Basically I have to say what the others said... The desolate, sad mood was very well portrayed. You lost it when the bass got louder and the piece gets faster, but I think it sounds like anger there... which you were probably trying to portray, methinks. The ending was good, but for me I would've preferred if immediately after the pause (right at 3:40) you would've just had one soft final chord. Overall, the ending didn't feel that finished with the notes still moving... But what you did was very good. Dwelling in the Dark Orchestra - I don't know if you meant it, but there seemed to often be quite a bit of dissonance. But, it fit the piece and made it spookier. I liked the pizzicato the most. Near the end it seemed to wander a bit. The very ending was cut off for me... Overall, very good! Cool pieces, I'd like to hear some more! :lol:

Thanks for the comments spc1st!! :D All this stuff is s***... but please, comment if you can! Anybody. Maybe I'll just take these down and put up some other stuff... hopefully better stuff... ... Eeeh... I bought Finale 2006 today!!! :wub: (Sorry, it's just so very exciting... working with crappy programs and cracked programs and demos with features disabled is so difficult!!) Yay!! Soon I'll have Finale!! So exciting!! ... ... :) Anyways... any more comments/critical suggestions would be appreciated... Edit by letehn: i censored your S word! ;)

Okay, I'm going to try to use just this ONE page for my compositions from now on. I am including just a bunch of random things. I haven't been composing very long so none of them are very long or anything. Barcarolle - My very first piano piece I composed!! I didn't know what to call it for a long time but then I thought maybe Barcarolle. It's supposed to use a lot of rubato and there are a few poco rit.s in it. So, just imagine they're there (I didn't want to waste time putting them in... and it's very difficult in the notation program I'm using now). Also, there should be a full ritardando at the end. And dynamics throughout, too. As my first real composition this one is dear to me... :blink: Elae - Just a random piece that I made. The name was just random letters I typed quickly when I saved it for the first time. I pronounce it /E.la.e/ (in X-SAMPA). Or, the last two vowels can be turned into a diphthong. Whatever. If you think it's a good start, I can extend it. Erst - It was the first thing I composed on my current notation program. It's crap but listen to it and critique it!! It's not finished really which is why it's so short. If you think it's a good start, maybe I'll extend it too. Intention in B minor - A more modern thing (I think) I wrote for piano. Little Rondo in G Major - My very first rondo!! I play in a fairly amateur string quartet (I play viola) and I've wanted to write some stuff it would be possible for us to play. Quartet - This doesn't have a name yet; it's my very first piece I wrote for a string quarter! There are two endings so if you hear it start over again and think it's boring just skip to the last few seconds to hear the 'real ending'. Okay, that's it for now... comment and critique!! Xyc (Bryan) Barcarolle.mid Elae.mid Erst.mid IntentionInBmin.mid LittleRondoInGMaj.mid Quartet.mid

I thinks it's amazing!! It reminds me exactly of all those Discovery channel little doc things I used to watch where they're talking about the Roman Empire, or the assassination of Caesar or something like that. While your composition was playing I could clearly imagine a Graeco-Roman setting. Also, it gained excitement in certain places which seemed like it was a battle so that worked great. And, you could hear the more Arabic or Oriental influences or something... and you said there was some aspects from India in it or something. Overall it's amazing. So, are you a professional composer for documentaries or something??

Wow... it's just that that reminds me of me so much. I've completed eight (or maybe nine?) years of piano with a teacher. However, I could never read music: I would always have to take the piece home and memorize it measure by measure. Then, as I started to do longer pieces I couldn't (and wouldn't take the time to) memorize the whole thing. And it's only been my latest teacher (last year and this year) who gave me a piece and then later heard me play through it perfectly 'til a certain point when I had to start 'reading'... and then I couldn't play any more at all basically. She said, "You can't read music, can you!?!". My earlier teachers were, I guess, too neglectful to even notice. But, this teacher quickly got me doing sight reading book after sight reading book. As well as a bunch of studies (using patterns and easy enough stuff to just play the first time you see it, kind of thing, so I get better at recognizing notes). My particular way to 'read music' before was that I would always get Middle C on the music (one leger line below treble) and then count the spaces up to the first note of the piece. Start there, and start reading the steps... like adjacent, one step in between, two steps in between, on the melody. Then, I would start memorizing. It sounds so ridiculous now... ... However, I think it may have improved my ability at understanding patterns and things like that, though... so it may have had some kind of benefit. (Plus my ear training is very good and people always said I have a good ear... so that is likely related) Now, I'm a poor sight reader... but I can read music. Just as you spend more and more time playing and reading off music, you can recognize notes faster. Even at the start of this year I'd have trouble whenever the right hand melody would go over A two octaves above middle C on the music. But that's much better now and I continue to improve. Similarly: in my violin I've only just started to understand the names of notes on the staff rather than just which string and finger number they correspond to maybe last year. (It's especially important on the violin when dealing with different key signatures to understand the note names! I used to always miss the sharps and such 'cause I only recognized the finger and not the note) Being able to read music is nice, but there is one drawback for me... this year I couldn't memorize much of my music! I was so reliant on memorization before that now something's changed and since the sheet music has some use to me, I have trouble memorizing!! So, I'll have to figure that out still... ... (Btw... I haven't actually listened to your song yet, so it's ridiculous that I even wrote this.... but I will listen to your song and then comment on it!!!! :P )

Hey, Nightscape! Great pieces... and especially so as improvisations. I listened to three of them. Dance: It's just so, so beautiful. And peaceful. This is my favorite. I have to ask, what is happening harmonically at 0:18 or 0:19. That one single note was just so beautiful and well placed and I just want to know what that was... :D Nocturne: The title suits is especially well. Very nice. If you were improvving a similar thing again sometime, I'd say take a little more of a risk and incorporate more dynamics, maybe a fortissimo even. Guise: I had to listen to it since Wolf loved it so much. I really liked the first part. I didn't like when you went really, really low on the piano. However, when you were accompanying higher notes with a few low notes it worked beautifully. I have to admit I got a little bit bored in the very middle of it... sorry! However, it was improv and amazingly done! Then, you started a bunch of new ideas and it became very interesting again. I love the start again at 4:22. What were the notes at the end (4:33)? Was it arpeggios for two octaves or something? I can't really tell what it was but I thought that ending was perfect. Amazing stuff; I'll listen to more later. You're an amazing performer (especially in the Dance).

Thanks, Nightscape, for the answer. 'Cause when I was thinking about it I was wondering for all the thousands of possibilites in the world of scale (including those using notes in between our notes), does each one have its own rules similar to the major and minor keys. I guess the answer is... maybe? Overall, though, thanks because I was just going to try to screw around with the modes but was wondering about the harmony of it. Okay... but how do you know you're in Dorian. If you were playing the Dorian mode of C major and you just tried different things... after a while I know I'd naturally accidentally use C major's 5 and 7 together or something and then naturally resolve with 1 and 5 and then the song would just be a poor song in C major (which appears to be written by someone with no understanding of harmony at all). With some of the scales I was talking about I guess it's easier to tell you're in it... like pentatonic. Last thing: You, Nightscape, said "experiment with additional harmonic devices to create further interest." Which made me wonder: can you modulate from one mode to another and how does that work?? Or should you just start using another mode and, after long enough, it'll become apparent? And you mentioned using a pentatonic scale as an additional harmonic device. Now, how would you use it? Just suddenly pop the whole scale in there, or just start using a bunch of its notes?? I think writing modes may be either the easiest... or most difficult thing to do. (Btw, my interest in this first arose when I wanted to try to write an oriental sounding song for my friend's game they made (in Rm2k3 if anyone cares) and I started, then immediately realized I don't understand how the harmony in a pentatonic scale works (because pentatonic is used a lot in Asia, right).. and then I got afraid and never wrote anything. I should really experiment more. However, did ancient China have harmony or did it use just melody? Err.. I'm asking too many strange questions...)

At least one thing I would suggest is a whole forum for Music Theory. In just one thread questions get skipped and people have to read the start every time so the questions at the bottom will never get read, etc. etc. You said it was previously that way and I think that was a good idea. :happy:

Great stuff! Sounds very much like video game music; I think that's probably what you were striving for. At any rate, I think you succeeded. The Chilvalry: The first part captures the epic adventure feeling (very Zelda-ish). Nice little harmonizations. The melody from 1:00 to 1:30 sounds like its from "The Graduation Song" by Vitamin C or something like that... I think. Basically it was good, though. The slower spookier part was very good. Thunder: I really liked this one! It was very interesting. The prelude part was composed very well, methinks. Then the drums and everything else cuts in at the perfect time: I had just heard enough of the first part when it started. The piano changing to the more rockish stuff reminds me of "Komm An Dir Nicht Weiter" by Rosenstolz. You are able to vary it enough to make it pretty interesting. I don't think Thunder is quite how I would've titled it, however. To me, I really liked how it had the energy and anger... but if you really listened it sounded very sad. Don't know if that's what you were thinking but that's what I got. (The perfect emotions for finding your mother dead and then declaring you will get revenge?? :happy: )